This guidance explains best practice for adults when transporting children and young people to and from sporting activities.
Transporting children to and from their sports activities safely can present challenges for sports clubs. Many clubs couldn't operate without the goodwill of volunteers and parents ensuring that children are transported to and returned home from events in a private car.
It's reasonable for clubs and activity organisers to give parents full responsibility to make appropriate transport arrangements.
If the activity provider, club or coach is organising transportation of its young members and asks or requires parents to transport other people’s children on the club’s behalf, the organiser has a responsibility to take reasonable steps to safeguard these young people for whom they have a duty of care.
We encourage coaches or other volunteers or staff not to take children on journeys alone in their cars. Most coaches and volunteers will help out through their genuine desire to see children and young people and their particular sport develop. Unfortunately, we must face the reality that a minority of others will join a sports club to gain access to children to harm them.
Transporting young people in cars - key considerations
Best practice is to avoid transporting a child alone. If there is no alternative and an adult has to transport a child, there are a number of safety measures you should put in place to minimise the risk:
- establish the suitability of any driver - the driver, like all coaches or volunteers who have unsupervised access to children in your organisation, should have agreed to a vetting check (where appropriate) and be carried out as part of wider safer recruitment procedures
- inform parents and carers of transport arrangements, including details of the person who will be transporting their child, the reasons why and how long the journey will take
- a person other than the planned driver should talk to the child about transport arrangements to check they are comfortable about the plans
- ensure that the drivers representing the club have valid car insurance, MOT and a driving licence prior to carrying any passengers
- the driver should check their cover with their own insurance company if they want to use their car as part of their paid or volunteer role
- clubs should try to ensure there is more than one child in the car
- when transporting children after a match or training session, coaches should alternate which child is dropped off last. Ideally 2 children would be dropped off at an agreed point such as one of their family homes
- the person who returns the children to the agreed point, such as family home, should be alternated; this reduces the risk of any one individual frequently being alone with a child or group
- the driver should have a point of contact, including one for each child they are transporting and a mobile phone in case they break down
- ensure that children are aware of their rights to be safe and that they have someone to turn to or report any concerns they may have
- late collections can present clubs and coaches with particular difficulties. Give parents guidelines addressing the issue and outlining their responsibility and the consequences of late collections
- clubs should have contact numbers for parents and if possible be provided with an alternative contact number too. Parents should have a contact number for the club or coach to inform them of emergencies and possible late collections
Seatbelts
Children should wear seatbelts at all times when travelling in a car. The following guidance details the seatbelt law,
Children must have an appropriate child restraint or seatbelt when travelling in a car or goods vehicle.
- under 12 years old, or up to 135cm tall, must use the right type of car seat. For more information please visit Child Car Seat rules (gov.uk website)
- children over 12 years old or 135cm, whichever comes first, should use an adult seatbelt
Alternative transport
If taxis are used by your club or organisation and there is no child restraint available, children can travel in the back seat of the taxi. Those over 3 years old must use the adult seatbelt.
Sometimes parents may be asked to drive a minibus on behalf of the club. Passengers on minibuses will be required to wear seat belts, where fitted, and the driver will be responsible for making sure that children under 14 use their seatbelts. If seatbelts are fitted on a bus, passengers must use them. The driver will be responsible for letting people know that they must use seat belts.
You can download this briefing in full below.
Author: NSPCC Child Protection in Sport Unit
Published: 2021
Further resources
Our online safe sports events management tool allows you to work through all elements of planning an event, at any level, and also provides supporting resources to further assist you.