Youths' dangerous game may stop bus service

The children have been hanging around near Firthmoor Community Centre, in Darlington, where they play their risky game.

They wait for a bus to come by and flag it down. When it stops they go to the back of the bus, lift up the engine cover and pull the stop switch, cutting the engine and stopping the bus.

Officials at Stagecoach which runs two services on the Firthmoor estate has now threatened to withdraw the buses if the youths do not stop vandalising their transport.

John Fraser, from Stagecoach said: "This is extremely dangerous and someone is going to get hurt if these youngsters do not stop doing this.

"It is not just the fact that they are stopping the buses, but just lifting the engine covers can be dangerous in itself. What we don't want is someone to lose a finger or worse."

As well as causing a nuisance to the drivers and passengers, the youths are also damaging the buses by bending the stop switches,making it difficult for them to continue on their journeys.

The situation has got so bad in the past few weeks that Stagecoach is now threatening to reroute its number 20 and 24 services away from the Darlington estate.

Mr Fraser said: "This is a real warning to the young people who are doing this. If it continues we will look into discontinuing the services.

"They are jeopardising a service that a lot of people use but we can't allow this dangerous practice to continue."

Most of the attacks have taken place in the early evening.

The threat to suspend the service follows a similar situation in the Skerne Park area of Darlington last year.

Bus company Arriva North-East withdrew vehicles to the estate after 6pm following vandalism and assaults on drivers and passengers.

Buses to the estate were stopped for several days and only reinstated after a public meeting to discuss the problems, where the police and Neighbourhood Watch wardens assured Arriva they would work to stop the attacks.