A COUNCIL estate has had its bus service withdrawn again, after a bus was stoned by youths and the driver was struck on the head.

The 464 bus, driven by a Blackburn man, was travelling from Bacup to Rochdale and was on Pennine Road at 5.37pm on Tuesday when about five or six youths gathered round it.

The Lancashire United Ltd bus, from Blackburn depot, formerly part of the Stagecoach group, was hit twice by two stones. One bounced off a window but the second went through the driver's open window and struck him on the head above his ear.

The driver, who is in his 30s, was shocked after the attack and tried to call for help on his mobile phone, but the battery was flat.

He took the five or six passengers to their destinations and took the bus off service and back to Blackburn.

Rossendale Transport's managing director Edgar Oldham said his company and Lancashire United had agreed to withdraw the service to the estate and review the matter on a daily basis.

He said: "Someone is going to get killed or seriously injured if this continues. This is yet another incident of trouble on Pennine Road and we have withdrawn our vehicles in support of the other bus company. "It is extremely worrying. These people don't realise the danger they are putting people in. These are not little stones that are being thrown, they are big lumps."

The estate was cut-off to buses after a spate of stone-throwing incidents at the end of April and Mr Oldham said he would not be returning the service until he was sure his drivers and passengers were safe.

Operations manager of Lancashire United Ltd Paul Wainwright, said: "My driver was hit on the back of his head above his ear and it left a lump. He was more shocked than anything else.

"If he had been knocked out we would have had all sorts of problems."

He said the police were examining CCTV footage to try to identify the youths responsible and the information on passengers had been passed to the police.

He said the service would return as soon as it was safe because to take the buses off the estate was costing the company money and reducing the service to their customers.

Police said they were investigating the incident but no arrests had yet been made.

The Rev Derek Allen, chairman of Bacup and Stacksteads SRB and project worker at the Sunnycrest Centre on Pennine Road, said activities were being made available for young people, in a bid to prevent them from committing crime.

He said: "We have set up a gardening group and we have a community mural project on going at the moment on Mondays from 6pm to 9pm, Tuesdays 9am to 5pm and Fridays 9am to 2pm.