Road transport department director Andreas Nikiforou on Thursday told the House transport committee about the crimes committed by children on school buses.

One child, he said, had brought a plastic pistol loaded with pellets onto the bus and started firing it, while another had attempted to burn his initials into a bus seat with a cigarette lighter, but had inadvertently set the whole bus on fire.

At the same meeting, committee vice chairman and Akel MP Costas Costa spoke of how on Wednesday, children had escaped through the window of a bus in Limassol and were riding it by holding onto its rear.

A fellow bus driver had informed the driver of the bus in question of the issue, and the bus stopped to allow the matter to be resolved. However, later on the same route, the driver of a car informed the bus driver that the children were once again hanging onto the back of the bus.

Nikiforou said the “tactic” of stopping the bus when children are misbehaving is “being promoted”, and then outlined the other escalatory measures which have been outlined.

In the event a bus has been damaged, a window of two or three days will be given for the culprit to be identified for the purpose of having the child in question pay for the damage caused.

If the culprit is not identified, the bus route on which the incident occurred will be suspended.

School pupils’ union Psem representative Apostolis Apostolou expressed concerns that the suspension of bus routes would affect many children who rely on buses to travel to school, and that “so many people should not be affected just because individuals behave in an ugly way.”

Bus operator Cyprus Public Transport had earlier in the month announced its intention to cancel school buses on some routes in Larnaca and Nicosia because buses are being continuously vandalised.

The company said it would file an official request to the transport ministry to have the routes on which the instances of vandalism have occurred ceased, “in light of all the vandalism cases which have occurred”.

“This is due to extensive damage to buses … the cost of damage reaching an unsustainable level, and the fact that no compensation has been received for said damage,” it added.

Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades reacted to the news by telling the Cyprus Mail the reported incidents were “unacceptable”, while also adding that his ministry had been informed of incidents of violence against bus drivers on school routes.

He added that it was his intention for those who vandalise buses and assault drivers to “face consequences”, including being temporarily or even permanently banned from using buses.

He said his ministry’s priority was for the buses to continue operating and to find the perpetrators and punish them.

“If someone is misbehaving on the bus, they are putting the lives of 50 other people in danger, and we cannot accept this.”