A BUS firm boss today claimed vandals on school services were costing him £5,000 a month in repairs to his fleet.

Edgar Oldham, managing director of Rossendale Transport, spoke out after headteachers called for police to ride on school buses after an incident in Blackburn last week when youths threw rocks at a vehicle, smashing two windows.

It was one of Mr Oldham's 108 buses which was involved in last Wednesday's incident near Witton Park, Blackburn.

At the time, it was carrying pupils from St Wilfrid's High School home to Haslingden and Bacup. No youngsters were injured, but they spent more than an hour waiting for a replacement vehicle to arrive.

The incident prompted David Whyte, headteacher at St Wilfrid's, and John Gosling, head of Witton Park High School, to call for police officers to ride on buses so youngsters behaved.

Police have agreed to consider the idea.

Today, Mr Oldham said: "Every month, the bill for vandalism is about £5,000 and most of that is caused by youngsters, and a lot on school routes.

"There is very little we can do about it other than just make sure the buses are back on the road as quickly as possible.

"The incident last week probably cost us about £400 in repairs, plus the fact we had to get another bus in to do that route.

"We need more police involvement to tackle vandalism. Incidents like last week are no longer a rarity, they are sadly quite common."

He added: "The type of vandalism on the buses is changing. Anything that is a flat surface is covered in felt tip pen and windows are smashed quite often. It used to be popular to wreck the seats by smashing them up. Now they just slash them."

Mr Oldham said his firm was looking to see what action his firm could take, but added: "The police are welcome on my buses whenever they want."

Blackburn Transport and Lancashire United are now both combating vandalism on their buses by fitting CCTV cameras.

Blackburn Transport has estimated that around 100 seats a week are wrecked by vandals.