‘If it can’t cope then it’s not fit for purpose’: Council leader apologises as parents frustrated by school closure website crashing during heavy snowfall - Local News

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‘If it can’t cope then it’s not fit for purpose’: Council leader apologises as parents frustrated by school closure website crashing during heavy snowfall

Martin Tett

Published on 11/02/2013 16:08

Bucks County Council leader Martin Tett has made an ‘unreserved apology’ after the authority’s schools website crashed.

The website failed at around 6am today (Monday), the second time in a month it has gone down on the same day Bucks has experienced heavy snowfall.

Councillor Martin Tett said it was ‘unacceptable’ for such a key service to fail at a time parents need it the most.

The website provides information on Bucks schools, including closures.

Mr Tett said: “It must be so frustrating to take your children to school and then find out it’s closed.

“It impacts on people’s work, their childcare responsibilities, it takes time out of their day and parents may lose income.

“I would like to issue an unreserved apology to all the parents in Buckinghamshire who have been affected by this issue.”

Last time the website crashed it was due to the large number of people visiting it and Mr Tett has asked the council’s chief executive to look into the problem ‘as a matter of urgency’.

He said: “Crashing because of the sheer volume is not good enough. We need to have the resilience to handle that.

“The whole point of a website is that people can use it. If it can’t cope then it’s not fit for purpose.”

Lee Common Church of England School in Great Missenden closed due to today’s weather, while Aylesbury’s Mandeville School was partially closed because of a broken boiler.

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‘If it can’t cope then it’s not fit for purpose’: Council leader apologises as parents frustrated by school closure website crashing during heavy snowfall

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