Parents of Auckland schoolboy left alone for hours in van want police probe after footage corrupted
Parents of an 11-year-old autistic boy are demanding a police investigation after their son was left alone in a school van for several hours. The transport company, Ritchies, claims the CCTV footage of the incident was corrupted and unrecoverable, leaving the family without answers.
Why it matters
This incident raises significant concerns regarding child safety protocols in school transportation and the accountability of private contractors when critical evidence is lost.
The parents of a boy locked alone in a van for hours are demanding answers from police after learning the transport company’s CCTV footage was corrupted.
The Auckland couple want to know what happened to their autistic, non-verbal 11-year-old child who failed to turn up to school and was discovered inside a Ritchies Transport school van four hours later.
Six weeks later, they have been told the van’s CCTV footage was corrupted and could not be retrieved.
Ritchies has confirmed efforts to recover video from the in-vehicle camera had failed.
The parents have now emailed police and the Ministry of Education with ongoing concerns.
“We just want to know what happened to our son in those four, five hours.
It’s understood the family have been told the school van was left parked at the driver’s home while he used a different vehicle to run errands.
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