A BUS company has withdrawn its services to a Darlington estate because it has become too dangerous for drivers and passengers.

The Green Bus Company, which runs three services to the Red Hall estate, has withdrawn its buses after a number of incidents of youngsters throwing missiles.

The final straw came yesterday when a stone broke a window on the number 19 as it travelled along Coombe Drive, near Bisley Court, at just after 3pm.

Managing director Richard Cranmer said he had made the decision to stop the service because the situation had become too dangerous for his staff and customers.

"Fortunately, there were no passengers on the bus at the time of this latest incident, but if anyone had been sitting in the seat nearest the window they would have been showered with an awful lot of glass," he said.

Earlier this week, both the Green Bus and Stagecoach bus companies had complained about children throwing stones and tampering with their vehicles on the estate.

Mr Cranmer said: "Youngsters have continued to throw stones at our buses, so we've withdrawn the buses from the estate, and that will continue until we can guarantee our staff and customers' safety.

"This is a problem that needs to be addressed. The measures we have previously taken have obviously not been sufficient. We need some reassurances from the police that they are taking action.

"We are checking our CCTV footage from the cameras covering both the inside and the outside of the bus. There's a good chance we caught the person responsible, if that's the case and we can identify them, we will be prosecuting."

Inspector Sue Collingwood said the police were treating the incidents very seriously and urged the community to help officers by identifying those responsible.

"It's terrible that as a result of the actions of a stupid minority, everyone on the estate will suffer, because they will lose this bus service for good if this continues.

"We need people to identify the culprits so we can take action. The local beat officer will also be drawing up an action plan to tackle this problem."

The Green Bus services are contracted by Darlington Borough Council, which fully supports its decision to withdraw the services.