Ref. 74393-46A £15,000 experiment aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour on school buses has been such a success transport bosses are set to expand the scheme.

Swindon Council and Thamesdown Transport fitted five double decker buses with eight digital CCTV cameras earlier this year.

And, following a dramatic reduction in rowdy behaviour, five more buses will have CCTV installed in the New Year.

Thamesdown Transport managing director John Owen said: "The CCTV on school buses has been extremely positive. Just in fitting it to a limited number of buses has halved the number of incidents on all buses.

"Nobody knows which buses have the CCTV so generally it has an implication for all of them.

"It's because of the success of fitting five school buses with cameras that we have decided to fit the remaining double deckers because these are largely used for school runs. The CCTV has been extremely effective for us.

"I would say CCTV has been one of the best decisions that we have made in recent years. If the initial trends are followed the New Year will be even better."

The five new cameras will be funded with the help of the council.

Swindon Council spokeswoman Caroline Pike said: "CCTV cameras have proven to be a very effective way of increasing safety for people travelling on buses.

"We are happy to support any initiatives that help to make the experience of using Swindon's public transport an enjoyable one."

CCTV is just one of the ways Thamesdown Transport is working to fight anti-social behaviour on buses.

Earlier this month the Advertiser reported how bus drivers in the town could be issued with DNA swab kits to help catch abusive passengers.

The test kits, which have already been introduced on First Great Western trains, allow police to extract DNA from saliva samples and use this as evidence to convict culprits.

Besides taking samples from spittle, evidence can also be collected from surfaces of drinks cans or cigarette butts.

Mr Owen said: "We are actively considering these kits if the situation gets worse.

"We have a duty of care to staff and passengers. Anything that acts as a deterrent to anti-social behaviour would be used if we needed it."

Gareth Bethell