BUS services through a Bolton housing estate had to be stopped for the second time in a week after vehicles were pelted with stones and missiles.

On Tuesday evening operators Diamond North West confirmed one of their drivers had encountered a group of youths targeting the bus as he drove through Johnson Fold.

The decision was made to terminate services through Johnson Fold for the rest of the evening with buses stopping at Mossbank Way Roundabout.

On Saturday afternoon, 16 bus service journeys had to be cut short for similar reasons after reports that several youths were hurling bricks at buses on Montserrat Road with Vision Bus’ 502 and 503 services diverted to avoid going through Johnson Fold.

A spokesman for Diamond North West, said: “On Tuesday, November 17, we encountered anti-social behaviour from a group of youths around Johnson Fold who were throwing missiles at our buses. This in turn was risking our drivers’ and our customers’ safety on board so we immediately stopped serving Johnson Fold and terminated at Mossbank Way Roundabout for the rest of the service.

“To have to disrupt service to protect firstly, the safety of our staff and customers is not a position we want to be in, but unless we can work with the community to put a stop to these dangerous acts of vandalism we will have no choice but to repeat this process.

“As a local bus company, like many other businesses, we are struggling to recover from the financial impact of Covid-19, but we are positive about growing bus services in Greater Manchester and we have continued in investing in new vehicles which are there to deliver a better experience and reliability to our local customers.

"We can only apologise to our customers who rely upon our services in is this area but it is the only option we have available to avoid vehicles being damaged.

"We urge the local community to support us in helping to identify who is carrying out these dangerous acts of vandalism to help avoid having to repeat this process."

The incident has been reported to Greater Manchester Police. If you have any information about the group who threw the bricks contact police on 101.