YOBS fired an air gun through the window of a bus, narrowly missing passengers.

The pellet went through the single decker, smashing the glass on both sides of the aisle.

None of the nine passengers was hurt, although one or two were showered by small shards of glass. The incident happened on Wednesday at 5.55pm as the X1 Arriva bus from Newcastle to Middlesbrough travelled through Coxhoe.

One passenger said: "It was possibly an air gun pellet. It went through one window and hit the other. There were a few vibrations and within seconds the other window shattered.

"Some of the glass fell on some of the passengers but no-one was hurt.

"Luckily the pellet passed just above the height of the passengers otherwise the repercussions could have been much worse." He said the bus continued to Sedgefield, where passengers were transferred to another vehicle.

Arriva operations director Iain McInroy said: "An Arriva bus operating on service X1 in Coxhoe had a window damaged as a result of what appears to have been an air gun pellet directed at the vehicle. There were no injuries to the driver or passengers as a result.

"It seems almost inconceivable that someone could be mindless enough to target a moving vehicle in this way and I would urge anyone with information to contact the police so that those responsible can be caught and prosecutions sought."

Police can be contacted on 0845 60 60 365.