POLICE say the number of school buses with potentially serious defects appears to be falling in County Durham.

A two-week operation checking buses across the county led to 11 out of the 192 inspected being ordered off the road.

This compares to 20 out of 154 checked last year in a similar operation.

The most serious faults included three buses with worn tyres, two with faulty brake lights, and one with defective brakes.

The drivers of a further ten vehicles were given delayed prohibition notices, giving a fixed period of time to mend minor faults. Last year's figure was 14.

Operation Coachman was carried out by Durham Police with Durham County Council's education department and the Vehicle Inspectorate, and involved checks at nine locations.

PC Ian McGuinness, of the force's traffic branch, said: "It is pleasing to see the results show an apparent improvement in the standards of vehicles being used."

Eileen Eliott, the council's school transport monitoring officer, said: "The very positive change has been brought about by good partnership working by the county council, the police, the Vehicle Inspectorate, Darlington council and district council taxi licensing departments.

"Vehicle monitoring, however, is not just a once-a-year event, and we will continue to carry out regular checks."