Judges in Utrecht have upheld the transport minister’s decision to ban the electric wagons known as Stints from the Dutch roads.

The minister imposed the ban shortly after last month’s fatal accident in which four children died when a wagon ploughed into a train. It is thought that the brakes had failed.

Thursday’s court case was brought by a daycare centre which claims the minister had not taken users of the Stint sufficiently into account in reaching her decision. Hundreds of daycare centres in the Netherlands have been forced to find alternative ways of moving children from place to place because of the ban.

‘The claim that the minister acted in a panic is not correct,’ the court said. ‘The minister has explained that the decision was taken on the grounds of traffic safety and that this had priority over all other interests.’

Stint Urban Mobility, which makes the electric carts, has since gone bankrupt.

The formal investigation into the vehicle safety is due at the end of the year.