Jodie and Jason meet Rock FM's breakfast DJ Dixie.

Lancashire pilots bus prefects to keep order on school run

Two Lancashire school students are taking to the airwaves to promote safer travel on the county's buses.

Jason Brook and Jodie Dean, both 16, from Hodgson High School Technology College, Poulton Le Fylde, have recorded interviews with Rock FM about their work keeping order on the school run as bus prefects. The duo also met the station's breakfast DJ ‘Dixie’ and had a guided tour of the Preston based pop station.

Jason and Jodie have been working with Lancashire County Council's Safer Travel Unit (STU) to improve safety on their school bus. They have been responsible for ensuring all students travel to school in an orderly fashion.

According to the STU, incidents of anti-social behaviour have dropped significantly since its formation last year. The STU team hopes that more schools will become involved with their work in the coming academic year.

"More and more schools are working with us to improve the journey to school for their students," the STU’s Linzi O'Donnell said. "The idea for bus prefects came about after speaking to students across the county. They said they would much rather work with their peers to sort out problems than have an adult trying to keep order. They receive training and always have support from staff at the school and the STU."

The station will broadcast the interviews in September at the start of the new academic year in 40-second clips to its 390,000 weekly listeners.

For further information about this article contact Martin Crabtree on 01772 533536, Email: martin.crabtree@css.lancscc.gov.uk