Anger after yobs force firm to take bus off road

A BUS firm has been forced to pull a vehicle off the road after vandals struck.

The vehicle on the 23a Dryburgh — city centre route was taken out of action on Wednesday after damage was caused inside the vehicle, which had to be taken in for repairs to avoid the risk of injury to passengers.

It meant the service due to leave at 4.20pm couldn’t run — leaving passengers with a further wait of 40 minutes for the next bus.

It’s not the first attack Xplore Dundee has had to deal with in recent times.

On January 20, the 9a service had a window smashed. And on January 3, Xplore was forced to withdraw its 9,10 and 33 services from Lothian Crescent in Whitfield after buses came under attack from yobs throwing stones.

In November, a service 15 bus was also forced to return to base after one of its windows was smashed i n Happyhillock.

Today, Dryburgh councillor Tom Ferguson blasted the vandals who are hitting Xplore’s services.

He said: “If that’s a start of things to come around here then it will be nipped in the bud.

“I will need to have a meeting with Xplore and we will try to put a stop to that.

“I do not want this to take hold like it has in the north east because up there they are having real problems.

“This behaviour is an affront to community life. All the people who go on buses go on them because they need the buses to go about their business.”

Following the attack on Wednesday, a statement was posted on Xplore Dundee’s social media pages.

One poster summed up the anger of bus users by replying: “Terrible. What’s next?”.

Earlier this year, Xplore Dundee released a video warning of the potentially fatal consequences.

A Stone’s Throw Away is a 15-minute film showing the recreation of a brick attack on a double-decker bus and its aftermath. It includes interviews with emergency services workers and is based on actual events.

A spokeswoman for Xplore Dundee said: “Some damage was caused inside the 23a bus and it was taken in for repairs.

“Just one journey was skipped out — it was a matter of procedure taken to avoid causing any injury to passengers. There was no stone throwing involved and police were not called.”