Undercover police officers are posing as passengers to stop vandals as young as 12 showering buses with bricks and stones.

Shock new figures show Bradford's buses are now being targeted at a rate of two a day by youngsters hurling rocks.

Now the city's main bus operator has teamed up with Odsal Police to try to stamp out the problem.

Over the next three months a 'dummy' bus carrying plain clothes officers and Specials will be sent out on to the streets.

It will be backed up by a team of uniformed officers in a separate vehicle aiming to catch the culprits on video.

PC Nick Mosey, of Odsal Community Safety Action Team, said: "These idiots are putting people's lives at risk. They may think one smashed window is a minor incident, but it has the potential to turn into a major road accident.

"Our main concern is to protect the safety of members of the public. Hopefully it will act as a deterrent and catch some of the vandals along the way."

Last month there were 59 attacks on buses in the Bradford area. No-one was injured, but at least one window was smashed in each incident.

Inspector Mohammed Raja, community link officer at First Bradford bus company, said Bowling and Bierley were the two major hot spots for vandalism.

Children shatter windows with missiles and hurl abuse at drivers and passengers.

Mr Raja said the latest incident was on Tuesday when vandals smashed a window in Holme Wood, Bradford on the 602 service and passengers had to get off and wait for a replacement.

Councillor Phil Thornton, deputy executive of the Council's transportation and planning committee and a bus driver in Bradford, today welcomed the crackdown.

He said: "It is an outrage that young people feel it is good sport to throw objects at moving vehicles. It can cause serious injury and even loss of life.

"As a bus driver I have experienced one of the windows being put through. It happened in the Low Moor area.

"Fortunately no-one was injured, but I had a lot of children on the bus and they found it an extremely frightening experience."

Residents in Bowling and Bierley - two of the worst hit areas - have also backed the undercover initiative.

Jean Pickles, of Bowling Hall Road, Bowling, Bradford, said: "Everywhere you go around here you see ripped up paving slabs and piles of bricks. That's obviously what these kids are using as ammunition."

And residents on the Bierley estate said they were not shocked to hear there were around a dozen incidents.

One man, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, said: "It's the same gangs of kids that are doing it again and again. They seem to find it amusing."

This isn't the first time buses have been targeted by vandals. In 1995 bus drivers made the Ravenscliffe estate a no-go area after 6pm after one of them was ambushed and shot at with a make-shift gun.

The curfew was lifted in April 1997 after an action plan was drawn up to educate hundreds of local children about the role of the bus service and dangers of bad behaviour. Police ended up riding on the buses to offer protection to passengers and bus staff.

But Inspector Raja said the stoning problem was increasing.

"When I joined First Bradford three years ago we were having no more than maybe 10 or 15 incidents a month.

"The attacks just seem to have spiralled since the turn of the year. These vandals target all kinds of buses - single or double-deckers, mini-buses, and it is happening every day. It can be a terrifying experience for drivers and passengers."

As well as the risk of serious injury, the vandalism left First Bradford with a £6,000 bill for replacement windows last month.

Inspector Raja said: "It is costing us a lot of money, but our main concern is for members of the public.

"We want passengers to know they can ride in safety. That's why we are liaising with the police to tackle the problem."

The initiative is part of a massive blitz on crime and disorder in the Odsal Police division, codenamed Operation Moy.

Community Safety Inspector John McGill explained: "We want the criminals to know that if they live, work in or pass through the Odsal division we are out there and on their tail."

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