EVER since the advent of mindless vandals, buses have been a favourite target. First, they pelted eggs at the windscreen. Then they progressed to stones.

These days, yobs think nothing of hurling a brick at a moving bus. Only last month we reported the latest such incident, when a new, £160,000 double decker was forced off the road after a brick shattered one of its windows in Acomb. Mercifully no one was hurt.

But the attack on a First bus on Saturday night has taken this moronic behaviour to a frightening new level.

A shotgun was fired at the driver's windscreen as he drove along Huntington Road. Several windows exploded. By the greatest good luck no one was hurt, but the driver and his passengers must have been terrified.

It is scarcely believable that a York bus has come under fire. This is like something from the Wild West, not a quiet city suburb.

The police are treating the attack with the seriousness it merits. Their first job must be to find the culprit and remove him from the streets. Whoever did this poses a real danger to the public: we are fortunate not to be reporting a murder inquiry today.

But a successful conclusion to this investigation should not be seen as an end to the matter. This incident brings to a head the whole issue of attacks on buses.

Understandably, drivers fear for their safety. Already city bus services have been withdrawn after coming under sustained missile fire.

York's buses are a vital public service, and where they travel should not be dictated by the acts of a mindless minority.

It is time for the police to step up their campaign against these idiots. If that means officers travelling on board every at-risk service, ready to catch the offenders red-handed, so be it.

The courts must then hand down stiff sentences as a deterrent. We cannot allow the situation to deteriorate any further.

Updated: 10:17 Monday, March 18, 2002