A MOTHER was praised by police last night for reporting her son after seeing a photograph of him “surfing” on the back of a bus.

Police said Catherine Malone was “very brave” for taking the unusual step of identifying her 12-year-old son, Marcus, to Durham Police and The Northern Echo in the hope it will stop him, and other youngsters, from taking part in the dangerous activity.

The mother-of-three phoned the police after her daughter recognised the youngster as one of the Darlington bussurfers caught on camera recently by a concerned driver, who sent the image to The Northern Echo.

The paper published the photograph on Friday in the hope it would deter children from the game, which involves youngsters jumping on the backs of buses and clinging on for as long as possible.

Youngsters sometimes compete, or dare one another, to see who can stay on the longest.

Last night, PC John Forster visited Marcus at his home in the North Road area of Darlington to warn him about how foolish and dangerous bus-surfing is.

He praised the actions of the 33-year-old mother.

He said: “She is very brave to do this. I think she’s done the right thing and shown a bit of responsibility and courage.

“We will be supportive of her. I am hoping Marcus will take on board the shame and worry he has brought to his mum.”

PC Forster added: “I know how terrible it is to lose a family member in a road traffic accident. One of my relatives died after they slipped under the wheels of a bus when they were the same age as Marcus.

“Bus-surfing is a very dangerous thing to do – both for the people doing it and other road users.”

Ms Malone said she got the police involved because it was the second time she had caught him bus-surfing and she wanted her son to learn his lesson.

“He could have killed himself,” she said.

“I don’t want to have to go to the morgue and identify him.

“I don’t want to see him killed and laid out on a slab.

“He’s put himself in danger and he’s put other people in danger as well.

“There’s only so many times you can let them get away with it. I think they just think it’s a bit of a laugh and they don’t realise how dangerous it is.

“I have come forward and phoned the police because I want to do something about it.

“I don’t want my son to get hurt.”

Yesterday, another North-East driver – this time in the Teesside area – contacted The Northern Echo after youngsters in Middlesbrough tried to surf on the back of her car.

Andrea Bullock was stopped by the youngsters wanting to know the time as she drove along a snowcovered Pallister Avenue, in Middlesbrough.

The 31-year-old thought their behaviour was strange, but did not realise that after asking her the time they managed to get underneath her Fiat Punto and hold onto the bumper.

“It was really icy, so when I tried to pull away it felt really heavy,” she said.

“Suddenly I heard the children shout.

“I leapt out of the car and I saw them crawl out from under the car and run away giggling. They must have been scraping the floor as my car is only small.”

The incident happened at about 7pm on January 5.

Miss Bullock said she later had to alert the driver of an ice cream van after the same three boys were seen hanging on the back of it.

She said: “They didn’t seem to understand the dangers involved in what they had been doing.

“It was very scary, and when I saw the picture in The Northern Echo a few days later, I sat down with my two children to make sure they know not to try it.”