Children left heartbroken as school mini-bus is stolen from outside village primary near Whitby

Children at a rural primary near Whitby have been left "heartbroken" after the theft of the school minibus means they may no longer be able go on educational trips and outings.
By Emma Ryan
Published 1st Apr 2022, 12:02 BST

The 17 seater Ford Transit bus was taken from outside Lythe Primary School between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

The bus has been serving the school since 2018 and was the only means of taking children on trips as the cost of hiring coaches is too much for the small village school, which has just 66 pupils, and school staff were trained to drive it.

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"There are no words to describe whoever has taken it", said a school spokesperson.

The school minibus which was stolen from outside Lythe Primary School on Tuesday overnight.The school minibus which was stolen from outside Lythe Primary School on Tuesday overnight.
The school minibus which was stolen from outside Lythe Primary School on Tuesday overnight.

The head teacher left the school at 8pm on Tuesday night and when the care-taker came to open up the school at 7am on Wednesday it was gone.

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They added: "They lifted a gate to get it out which was obviously locked. It is absolutely devastating because we are a small rural primary school, we use it all the time. If it is a nice day, a class will go to the beach on the bus. The work that goes into fundraising to keep it is unbelievable. We are just heartbroken, absolutely heartbroken. We don't know if we will get it back, it will be long gone I think.

"We are back to square one. We have had the bus for four years, it is a wonderful asset to the school because childfren get to do things they wouldn't with us being here. If we had to ring a coach company it would cost a fortune. Children, staff, governors - everybody is crushed by it."

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North Yorkshire Police said: "We are requesting the public’s assistance to help establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident and location of the minibus. In particular, we are appealing for anyone who may have seen the minibus to get in touch as soon as possible. It clearly has name 'Lythe CEVC Primary School' on the side of it."

Anyone with information that could assist the investigation should contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2, and ask for PC Hanbury 417 or email [email protected]