BUS bosses, head teachers and education chiefs are drawing up a battle plan to tackle the increasing problem of yobbish youngsters causing mayhem on school run buses.

Incidents of drivers being verbally abused, pupils fighting amongst themselves, missiles being thrown, fires being lit inside crowded buses and general bad behaviour are all on the increase across Lancashire.

Yesterday, Tuesday, county councillors were told a meeting will be held in the next few weeks to get the various parties together for a "think tank" session to map out ways of tackling the growing problem.

A new more detailed system for reporting anti-social behaviour was introduced at the beginning of the autumn term last year which showed the situation was getting worse. During the term to December 4 a total of 334 incidents were reported in Lancashire, compared to 446 in the whole of last year and more than in the whole of 1998.

There were 19 instances of fights on buses compared to seven in the whole of 1999, 31 examples of drivers being verbally abused (33 in 1999), 60 instances of unruly behaviour (24), and 28 incidents of litter being left (20).

There was an average of five anti-social instances a day during the autumn compared to two in 1999.

Part of the increase was put down to the new system which made it easier for bus companies to report problems.

"It's a deep malaise in our society and I don't know where it comes from," said Neil Thornley, head of Fearns High, Stacksteads, and a former member of the national executive of the National Association of Head Teachers.

"It seems to me there's a reluctance on the part of many agencies to punish children. I've just excluded two for causing mayhem on a bus. I can't do any more than that. Once they're beyond the school gates they're beyond my control.

"Unless we catch these hooligans, have hard evidence against them, until they're prosecuted and magistrates understand what a huge problem this is, it will go nowhere and we will have anarchy."

Peter Dixon, head at Mansfield High School, Brierfield, said: "If we get misbehaviour reported we take it very seriously to the extend of banning children from buses. Only a fortnight ago we banned three children from a particular bus for a month. We have brought parents in to school to talk to them if there is a problem."

Chris Bowles, operations director for Stagecoach in Lancashire, said: "Vandalism and anti-social behaviour is a significant problem and it worries a lot of our staff on a daily basis. On vandalism alone we spend £250,000 a year in East Lancashire repairing windows and seats. An increasing problem are children who threaten and abuse our staff and other people on the buses. We receive such reports almost every week.

"It is difficult to get reliable staff to work school buses."

Jim Hilton, operations director with Blackburn Borough Transport, said: "Like other bus operators we are working with both Lancashire County Council and Blackburn with Darwen Council to overcome these problems and we fully support any action."

Last autumn school children threw bricks and eggs at a public service bus being operated by Blackburn-based Powercrafts Coach Hire, smashing a side window. Fortunately the bus was empty and no-one was hurt. Director Paul Critchley said: "We get kids scrawling graffiti and ripping the seats. It's something we have to live with."

Roy Husband, an official with the TGWU which represents bus drivers, said: "The children know we can't touch them. We can't grab them and throw them off the buses like we used to be able to do. It's a no-win situation."

A school bus code of conduct was launched a year ago in Blackburn and Darwen after the authority suffered similar problems -- and it is paying dividends, according to organisers.

The code is an agreement between Blackburn with Darwen Council, bus companies, the police and local pupils to encourage good behaviour while travelling to and from school.

Schools issued individual travel passes, containing photographs, to all children and a poster campaign was launched to reinforce the message of "citizenship" and good behaviour. A council spokesman said: "It's still early days and we can't claim to have eradicated the problem but the scheme is bearing fruit. We have others in the pipeline."