LATE night buses were today axed after passengers and drivers had been regularly terrorised by drunken thugs.

The late-night Chorley to Blackburn route was a regular haunt for rowdy youths who have wreaked havoc for the last two years.

Now Lancashire County Council and Stagecoach Ribble have pulled the plug on the service for "public safety" reasons.

A joint statement said: "The 124 bus service from Chorley to Blackburn will no longer run until further notice because of unruly and threatening behaviour by some young people.

"The action has been taken to protect public safety after repeated incidents of vandalism and harassment of passengers and drivers."

Coun Bob Clark, chairman of the county council's public transport committee, said: "It's a very sad day for all the innocent users of the service. "But they were the ones at risk and who needed to be protected.

"I believe gangs had been causing a wide range of problems and, in the end, it was just no longer safe to continue with the route. I would have thought it was highly unlikely the service will run again because, with this sort of thing going on, people will not want to use it anyway."

It is believed Blackburn youths were responsible for the majority of incidents.

Seats have been ripped out and passengers and drivers faced a regular barrage of verbal abuse.

David Barnish, of Abbey Village post office, said: "I'm not surprised it's been axed and it's another example of the majority suffering because of a minority.

"We'd heard that drivers had been subjected to terrible abuse with young drunks, so it's a good thing they've got rid of it."

The last bus from Chorley to Blackburn will now leave at 9.20pm. The 10.20pm service from Chorley will now end at Abbey Village and return to Chorley at 10.40pm.

The last bus from Blackburn to Chorley will be at 10pm.

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