Loreto Day School, Elliot Road, has called a meeting of pool car owners on Tuesday after a vehicle carrying 10 children met with an accident near Fort William and injured three children.

“The pool car owners will be asked to produce relevant documents like the fitness certificate of the vehicles as per the protocols laid down by the government. They would be told that the number of children in the pool car should not exceed the government regulation,” said Nandini Bhattacharjee, education director, Loreto South Asia.

The principal and a school secretary will address the meeting.

“They will also be told that pool car owners and drivers must keep the contact numbers of parents. If they do not have the numbers, it delays communication. Both the parents and the school must be informed immediately,” said Bhattacharjee.

Loreto Day School, Elliot Road, does not have any school bus, and the pool cars are a private arrangement that parents make with the pool car owners.

The school is not involved, said Bhattacharjee. “But many parents who come from far off, like Howrah, near the airport, Lake Town, Kalindi, avail of the pool car services.”

Parents are often forced to rely on pool car services because it is not feasible for them to either drop off or pick up children from school every day.

Only commercial vehicles with valid permits can qualify as pool cars, the transport department had said.

In June 2025, the department issued a directive making it mandatory for pool car owners and other commercial vehicle operators to install vehicle location tracking devices.

Last December, a Maruti Omni ferrying children home in Uluberia lost control and fell into a pond, killing three of the six children on board.