Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Bus Taken Off afTEr yObs smasH winDOw
Bus firm Xplore’s 15 service was forced to return to base after one of its windows was smashed while navigating its route through Happyhillock.
It comes after three services — 9, 10 and 33 — were withdrawn from Lothian Crescent following a string of attacks on Tuesday night.
The l atest incident happened on Happyhillock Road the following day at around 6.30pm.
Elsie Turbyne, the managing director of Xplore Dundee, said: “This type of aggressive and antisocial behaviour is extremely dangerous and totally unacceptable.
“Throwing stones at buses can severely injure people or cause a serious accident.
“We’re working with Police Scotland and the Fire Service to ensure we can take this message into local schools as soon as possible using our recently produced safety film.
“We are not prepared to put our customers or staff in danger.
“We will continue to review the safety of sending our vehicles into areas where we are experiencing sustained attacks.”
Ms Turbyne has already warned that, although a last resort, Xplore will consider “curtailing services” at certain times in areas where vehicles are under attack.
Whitfield has been highlighted as one area where Xplore buses are regularly subjected to vandalism.
A safety film has recently been released by the firm to highlight the dangers of throwing objects at buses.
Ms Turbyne said: “Our priority is the safety of our staff and customers.
“The number of incidents recently led us to make a safety film.
“Awareness is a key thing and it’s why we visit schools and get involved with community partnership work.
“You tend to get pockets of activity and spikes through the year with vandalism — like now.
“We’re hoping the film will tackle the problem and see incidents drop in the future.”
Last month, children as young as 12 targeted an Xplore bus parked on Fintry Road.
The attack lasted between 45 minutes and an hour.
ANOTHER Dundee bus has been targeted by yobs throwing rocks, putting the vehicle off the road.