Bridge yobs pelt buses with bricks

Youngsters on the overpass hurled bricks and a traffic cone at buses below

Police warned the acts were "incredibly dangerous" and pledged to act swiftly against anyone found to be involved. Lothian Buses is understood to be considering whether it is safe to continue services beneath the bridge.

The incidents happened in Clovenstone Road, Wester Hailes, on Wednesday evening. At around 6.40pm a traffic cone was thrown from the bridge, smashing the window of a passing No 3 bus. Then, at 8.20pm, youths were spotted throwing bricks from it, hitting a second bus.

The buses had to be stopped and removed from service. No- one was injured in the attacks.Police are now carrying out high-visibility patrols in the area to try to deter the culprits from striking again, and say they will deal "robustly" with anyone found throwing items from the overpass.

Sergeant Steven Riddell of the Wester Hailes safer neighbourhood team said: "There are no descriptions of the youths responsible and inquiries are ongoing to see if we can identify them. Obviously it's quite a reckless act, and the bus company are reviewing their services in the area as a result."

Operations manager of Lothian Buses, George McKendrick, said: "On Wednesday evening an item was thrown from the pedestrian overbridge in Clovenstone which broke a window of a service 21 bus.

"A traffic cone hit a service 3 bus from the same overbridge, which also broke a window. No passengers were injured and both buses were removed from service, with replacement buses deployed."

A police spokesman said: "These acts were not only incredibly dangerous, but resulted in both buses sustaining damage to their windows. Officers will be on patrol on and around the overpass to prevent any further incidents and would appeal to anyone who sees any suspicious activity to report it to police immediately.

"The consequences of throwing objects at moving vehicles can be severe and we will take swift action against anyone found to be involved."

The warnings come a month after a motorist's windscreen was smashed by a football-sized chunk of ice thrown from a bridge on a dual carriageway in Livingston. Bus driver Frances Mullen managed to pull over and escaped injury when her car windscreen was shattered as she drove along the A899.

Councillor for the area, Ricky Henderson, said: "It's ridiculous, stupid behaviour, moronic behaviour and I'm disappointed that the youngsters in Clovenstone would do this, because it's a good local community and they need to understand that they could seriously injure somebody. I hope the police will take all necessary action to deal with this."