DAYS after taking delivery of a new mini-bus the Tenbury Transport Trust has had one of its vehicles broken into and vandalised.

The bus involved is not the new vehicle but one leased from Worcestershire County Council.

It is believed that vandals made two visits to the bus while it was parked overnight in the car park near Tenbury swimming pool.

Damage to the bus included two stolen fire-extinguishers, the extinguisher brackets broken and twisted where the fire extinguishers had been ripped out the brackets.

A first-aid kit was pulled off its bracket, a box at the rear of the bus which contains electrical wiring had had the lid broken and the wires possibly tampered with.

Three litres of screen wash disappeared, leaving only the empty bottle, cigarette butts were on the seats and the floor and it is believed that the vandals had been smoking cannabis.

Litter of various kinds had been dumped, the bus radio was blaring and every seat in the vehicle has been jumped on with muddy shoes that has left the furniture and the floor filthy.

“The whole inside is a mess and will need fully valeting,” said Wendy Schuster, manager at the transport trust.

"It has been sent to Worcester for repair and cleaning before returning to service.

“I am unable to say exactly how much these items and this damage will cost because being a leased bus from Worcestershire County Council, we sent it straight up to fleet services to be repaired and thoroughly checked over.

“We will be liable for a full deep-clean of the inside of the vehicle, though, and I am guessing we won't see much change out of £50-£60.

“There were two visits to the bus - one was around 4pm or just after and then the return visit was around or after 7pm.

“Jim from the art class, held in the Scout Hut, heard the bus radio blaring and saw the door open. He also spotted a group of young people legging it across the car park.”

Tenbury Transport Trust would like a locked and secure garage to keep its buses.

“The buses are parked in the town council's swimming pool car park as the council allow us to park there for free,” added Wendy

"Unfortunately, there is no CCTV in operation there. They are not parked in a garage, either locked or otherwise.

“The ideal parking for us would be a covered garage or lean-to type arrangement, centrally located, with security cameras and free of charge.

“Fortunately, this has not affected our operation and all bus services have run as normal.”

Tenbury Transport Trust runs bus services to Kidderminster and Leominster.

It depends upon a team of volunteer drivers to operate the services and also a car transport operation.