This undercover bus has been driving around West Yorkshire to catch vandals in the act

A stone throwing youth was given an unwelcome surprise in Castleford after finding a bus he targeted contained plain clothes police officers.

Wakefield District Police have said more Trojan Bus operations are now in the works after conducting a partnership operation with Arriva Yorkshire and Wakefield Council to try and deter incidents of vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

Police officers, special constables and PCSOs travelled on and followed a bus service in an unmarked vehicle in the Castleford area during the evening of November 4.

The teams left Castleford bus station at about 7pm and patrolled around Castleford and Pontefract including in the Airedale and Chequerfield areas.

While on Airedale Square, the bus was targeted by an youth who threw a stone but then fled on realising the bus was carrying police officers.

Police also dispersed youths causing a nuisance on Leyland Road in Pontefract and gave words of advice to and dispersed another group seen in the town.

Officers also attended and patrolled at locations in both towns after receiving live information about illegal off road bike activity.

The scheme comes after a spate of vandalism on buses in West Yorkshire including in Leeds.

Sergeant Lisa Beedel of Wakefield Police, said: “We have been working very closely with Arriva in Wakefield District and I want to thank them for the support they have shown us, and thank the Castleford NPT and our special constables for supporting this operation.

“Trojan bus patrols are highly effective for us in being able to provide reassurance to residents and catch those committing criminal offences unawares by deploying officers in places where residents would not ordinarily expect to find them.

“The aim of this operation was to deter anti-social behaviour on what can be one of our busiest weeks and, as we found, youths we dealt with were surprised to see the bus service was carrying police officers.

“We will be looking to continue with this activity in the near future.”

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