A BUS company has declared Lepton a no-go area after dark.

Yorkshire Traction has stopped running services through the village after 5pm, after attacks on its vehicles by vandals.

Commercial manager Mike Power hit out, saying: "Perhaps parents would like to sort their children out!"

Street corners around Highgate Lane, Ings Way and Greave House Terrace are said to be the trouble- spots.

Yorkshire Traction's move follows thousands of pounds worth of damage caused by a stone-throwing mob on Monday night.

Cars and a bus were pelted with bricks and stones.

Two churches and a funeral home were also attacked in a few days of vandalism.

Mr Power continued: "We've got to think about the safety of not just our drivers but our passengers."

Buses on the 231 and 232 routes will stick to Wakefield Road and the 233 and 240 buses will stay on Penistone Road after 5pm. None of the services are going into the centre of Lepton after 5pm.

Mr Power said: "We're taking this action indefinitely, until something is done.

"We've been in contact with the police and local groups."

Yorkshire Traction has also asked Metro about the possibility of closed- circuit television at one trouble-hit bus shelter.

Mr Power said: "So far we've had nothing worse than broken windows. But it costs £150 to £200 to repair a bus window and much more if it is modern, bonded glass."

The news is another blow for villagers. Some say urgent action is needed to curb Lepton's street yobs.

And one resident even thinks a Lowerhouses-style curfew could be the answer.

Stephen Platten was a passenger on a Yorkshire Traction bus that was targeted by the vandals at the weekend.

Windows were smashed, causing £1,500 damage.

Mr Platten, 52, who has lived in Lepton since 1982, said: "Youths are gathering in the centre of Lepton at night. They're aged 13 to 16 and they are causing all sorts of trouble, playing chicken with cars, running in their path or standing in the way.

"It's time something was done. We British tend to just sit there and put up. But enough is enough.

"I wouldn't walk down Highgate Lane nowadays. I'd always take a different route. At this rate, I could see someone being killed."

Mr Platten said of the attack on his bus:

"It was like two gunshots. Looking at the holes in the glass, they looked like they were made by a high-powered rifle."

In the summer, police imposed a curfew on Lowerhouses and Ashenhurst under the 2003 Anti-Social Behaviour Act. It gave police extra powers to move on teenagers who cause problems with abuse, bad behaviour, fear and intimidation.

Conservative Clr Adrian Murphy, who lives in Lepton, said: "The minority are giving the good kids a bad name. But if things carry on as they are, lives are at risk.

"Lowerhouses had a much bigger situation, but perhaps Lepton is going that way. I don't know."

Liberal Democrat Clr John Smithson, Kirklees Council's deputy leader, said: "I'm very disappointed that Yorkshire Traction have taken this decision.

"I will talk to them and ask them to reconsider."

Clr Smithson represents Almondbury ward, which covers part of Lepton.