Ossett evening buses reinstated after anti-social behaviour stops services

Calls reporting nuisance behaviour increased on days without security patrols, police said

A bus operator which was forced to stop using a Wakefield bus station due to anti-social behaviour has reinstated services after security was laid on.

Arriva Yorkshire stopped its regular 126 Dewsbury-Wakefield service visiting Ossett on Monday, stating that staff and passenger safety was paramount.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority had provided security at the bus station so services could resume, Arriva said.

Anti-social behaviour around buses was "unacceptable and mindless", it added.

The firm had previously said it "utterly condemned" those behind the problems at Ossett bus station.

Earlier this month, officers told a meeting of Ossett's Police and Communities Together that nuisance behaviour in the town was "going through the roof".

Speaking at the meeting, PCSO Richard Firth said people had complained the bus station had become a "no-go zone", the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

The officer said police had done "various things behind the scenes" but added that "nothing seems to be working at the moment".

Ossett bus station has seen anti-social behaviour and vandalism

He said they had received 20 calls about problems at the bus station over the last six weeks.

He added: "We have visited some kids. We have given them contracts from the council not to go in the bus station."

The officer said it had been noted that on evenings when officers were patrolling there were no issues, but on rest days, "it can be bedlam".

The meeting also heard that officers had received more complaints about anti-social behaviour at Ossett and Cleckheaton bus stations than anywhere else in the region.

Tony Homewood, independent councillor for Ossett, said: "It has really come to something when the local bus operator dare not send its own buses into its own bus station.

"The police, in the meantime, are not able to tackle the problem because it happens when the few police officers we have in Ossett are on their day off."

In a statement on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Arriva said: "The bus operator has been working with West Yorkshire Combined Authority and we're grateful for their assistance by providing security each evening.

"We should not have to say that behaving in an anti-social and dangerous way around buses is unacceptable and mindless, but sadly we do."