POLICE officers will travel on busses and have an increased presence in the Ringland area following a spate of attacks on Newport Bus.

“We are working hard to protect our communities and we will not tolerate the safety of others being put in jeopardy,” said local inspector for Newport East, Martin Cawley

Newport Transport said: “It has been due to good fortune that someone has not be seriously injured”.

On Tuesday, September 17, a window was smashed in Ringland on Hendre Farm Drive, making it the fifth such incident in the last week.

Last Friday, September 13, a window was smashed in Ringland – though there were no injuries.

The day before, the driver of the 8A/8C Ringland service was hit by a stone thrown through his window on Chepstow Road at around 6.45pm.

He suffered a small cut on his head, but luckily was able to complete his route.

The route 9 and route 8 buses were also hit by rocks on Wednesday, September 11, on Chepstow Road near the Man of Gwent pub at around 7pm.

Two windows were shattered but luckily no-one was injured.

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Inspector Cawley added: "We take reports of this nature extremely seriously and we would urge anyone who witnesses these offences to contact us at the time they are happening so we can respond appropriately.

“There will be an increased police presence in the area, including officers travelling on buses.

“We are engaging with the local community, schools and the transport operators to ensure these people are identified.

“I would also ask parents to talk to their children to remind them of the potential consequences of this type of behaviour.”

Writing on Twitter, Superintendent for East Local Policing described the attacks as “totally unacceptable”.

He said: “I want to reassure everyone that we will not tolerate it.”

Several bus services have been changed in response to the attacks:

8A/8C – The last service to leave the bus station will be the 18:30 8C service – all other services will not operate.

6/7/6E – The last service operating full route will be the 18:30 7 service – From the 18:45 6 services the 6/6E will only operate as far as Ladyhill Road in both directions.

74 – The 18:15 74 from Newport will operate full route. The 21:15 departure will operate via Somerton Road/SDR and return to its normal route at Coldra. The 21:35 departure from Chepstow will operate via SDR and Somerton Road returning to normal route at Chepstow Road