ANTI-social behaviour and violence on evening buses serving Colne and West Craven have led to calls for urgent talks between transport firms, the police and other authorities.

There have been worries about the future of M5 and Pendle Wizz bus services amid fears bus firm Transdev could stop evening buses because of the problems, councillors have been told. 

The concerns were raised at a West Craven area committee meeting of Pendle Council.

Lib-Dem Cllr David Whipp said: “There were some horrendous cases of groups attacking buses and attacking people getting on buses. They were being violent on the buses and abusing bus drivers. That is wholly unacceptable."

He has suggested CCTV cameras be installed as part of a "concerted approach" which could involve roundtable talks between the operators and police.

Cllr Whipp said there were rumours locally Transdev might stop the evening buses because of the problem but he understood the firm says it has it no plans for this.

Conservative Cllr Rosemary Carroll said Lancashire County Council is due to have talks with bus operators this month.

She added: “My daughter is a bus driver and I could tell you a few stories about it.”

Pendle Wizz services by Transdev have the Burnley Bus Company brand. These connect Burnley and Colne via the M65 with Kelbrook, Barnoldswick and Skipton.

The M5 routes by another Transdev arm, Mainline, serve towns and villages including Colne, Barnoldswick. Kelbrook, Sough and Earby. At Colne, the M5 route connects to  M3 and M4 buses serving Nelson, Burnley, Trawden and Keighley in West Yorkshire.

Councillors looked at the latest Lancashire Police crime figures for December for West Craven. These showed 20 recorded assaults, 28 cases of anti-social behaviour, 10 thefts and 16 criminal damage cases.  Overall, there were 68 recorded crimes, a rise of 21 crimes compared with December 2021.

Tory Cllr Jenny Purcell was frustrated with the lack of a police officer to discuss the West Craven crime update.