STONE and egg-throwing teenagers have forced the withdrawal of late-night bus services to a group of parishes near Hereford.

Bus company First said it could no longer risk the dangers to passengers and staff.

Its fears have been confirmed by Police and Herefordshire Council, who agreed the subsidised services to Clehonger, Kingstone and Madley could be axed for the time being.

Steve Zander, spokesman for First, said buses after 8pm had been attacked by stone-throwers .

It is understood the last straw was an incident in which a stone was thrown through the windscreen of a moving bus.

The council, which subsidises the service, was consulted after concerns from bus drivers.

Transport manager Richard Ball said:"We agreed to the suspension for a month. It is regrettable but we have to balance it against the risk of accident caused by a missile through a driver's window and to try and avoid serious injury."

The last buses to Clehonger, Kingstone and Madley will now leave Hereford at 7-30pm. The 10-30pm service and the 11-30pm buses on Friday and Saturday will only go to Belmont.

Community safety co-ordinator Sgt Phil Edwards of Hereford Police confirmed there had been a lot of activity in the Clehonger area involving a small group of young people.

Sgt Edwards said the police had been visitingschools but stressed the vast majority of young children in the area were fine: a small number was responsible for antisocial behaviour.

He added a committee of nine had been set up and hoped to arrange more activities for young people, with money set aside.

County councillor David Taylor said up to 60 people attended an open parish meeting in Clehonger this month to consider the complaints.

He said: "It is a minority who have affected the pleasure of people in Clehonger, Kingstone and Madley who use these late buses from Hereford.

"But it could rebound on them because they might not be able to get a bus home after a night out in Hereford themselves,'' he said.

Mr Taylor said one resident, unaware the late buses had been withdrawn, had to pay £17.50 for a taxi home after a Saturday night in the city.

The bus company, unused to such vandalism in a rural area, will monitor the situation in the hope of restoring the services in the future.