Police use decoy bus to catch vandals in Leeds

A squad of officers from the police and Leeds City Council has been out in north Leeds in a '˜decoy bus' to try and snare vandals.

Police and the council’s anti-social behaviour team have been posing as passengers on a ‘Trojan Bus’ after a spate of vandal attacks involving stones being thrown at buses and taxis in the area.

The Trojan Bus came from First Bus - which has been the victim of many of the attacks - for the operation to catch would-be vandals.

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No arrests were made but the police said they hope it served as a deterrent - and warned it will be back on the roads again in the near future.

PC Mark Rothery, of the inner north east Leeds neighbourhood policing team, said: “That night we didn’t get any incidents - but as soon as we stopped a call came in of someone throwing stones at a bus. We want to get the message out there that it won’t be tolerated.”

Will Pearson, operations director at First Leeds, said: “We can confirm that we have been working with West Yorkshire Police and Leeds-Anti Social Behaviour Team over the last month to investigate 
serious incidents where items have been thrown at buses travelling through North Leeds.”

He said projects such as the Trojan Bus has seen a reduction in attacks but they will continue to work with agencies to protect the safety of customers.

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He added: “We’re thankful that these incidents have not resulted in any serious injuries, but we’d like to reassure everyone that the safety of our staff and customers is of the highest priority and we will continue to work in partnership with the police to ensure we can put an end to these acts of vandalism.”