The police were called in yesterday afternoon at the David Rose Special School on Thomas Lands after teachers and students of the institution blocked a group of men from removing an unserviceable school bus the men claimed they had bought.
According to teachers of the school, around 3 pm yesterday, some men arrived in front of the school in a car and stated that they were checking on the bus. The bus was donated to the school by Food for the Poor several years ago.
The school’s driver and mechanic John Bishop told this newspaper that when the men arrived at the school he informed the head teacher and they along with teachers and students ventured to the front of the school to assess the situation.
He said one of the men informed him that he had purchased the bus, which bore registration PFF 1703 and which has a 30-seat capacity, in a bidding process and that he had paid the sum of $110,000 for the vehicle. Bishop noted however, that closer examination of the receipt proffered by the man revealed that there was no signature or stamp indicating that the Education Ministry had sold the bus.
He said the man produced an agreement of sale which bore the signature of the Permanent Secretary of the Education Ministry. Closer examination of that document indicated that the sum mentioned ($110,000) differed from a figure ($304,000) which was stated as the agreed sale price. This newspaper also viewed a copy of the document which the men left with the school and it was observed that the Education Ministry had agreed to sell two other vehicles, a car and a smaller bus, to the man.
“We then realized that something is not right and so we told them that they cannot move the bus because it belonged to the school and not the ministry ….it was donated to us from Food For the Poor,” the man stated. He said too that the men related that they were from the Berbice area and that they were given five days within which they were expected to remove the bus from the school’s compound.
When this newspaper arrived at the school yesterday, police were questioning the men as well as the school staff about the incident. The men were taken to the Alberttown Police Station and the school’s principal also accompanied the officers to the police station.
According to the teachers, the school currently operates two buses which transport students to and from the school daily. They said the bus in question worked for several months and according to them, the Education Ministry had indicated that it would foot the bills for repairs and fuel for the vehicle.
However, several months after the bus was delivered to the school, it developed a mechanical problem and the school was experiencing difficulties having the bus repaired.
