JUBILANT school leavers have left a mile-long trail of destruction in Honley.

Pupils from Honley High School celebrated the last day of term by ripping up their books and throwing them into the street.

Yesterday afternoon a trail of shredded pages was scattered from the school gates on Station Road all the way to the far end of Westgate in Honley village centre.

It is thought that dozens of pupils tore up their books and tossed them out of the windows as their buses travelled from the school towards Meltham.

Honley resident Nick Hurt said he was driving through the village at about 2.30pm when he saw streams of paper being thrown from four or five school buses.

He said: “I have rung the school along with about 20 other residents. If they get the names off these papers I think they should shame all these pupils. It’s an absolute disgrace.

“I collared one youth doing it in the street and gave him a right roasting.

“I said it was a disgrace and told him to take it home and he just looked at me like ‘who are you?’

“I’ve got his name and I will tell the school.

“The parents of any children who are found to have done this should be named and shamed.”

Residents living on Station Road near the school said they were appalled by the behaviour of the youngsters.

Reg Senior said he had caught two pupils shredding their books at about 12.30pm but when he asked them pack it in he was verbally abused and threatened.

Mr Senior said when he told the youngsters he was going into the school to report them they began to burn their names off the trashed school books.

And he said when he came back to the street at 3.30pm the litter trail was 10 times worse.

He said: “It seems to be an end of school tradition but it’s totally unacceptable.

“I’ve noticed it before but it was never as bad as this.”

Bill Large, 83, who has lived on Station Road for more than 50 years, said it was the worst he could remember.

He said: “It’s a reasonably quiet neighbourhood but things like this spoil it.

“It’s gradually got worse over the years.

“I accept they have finished all their exams. I suppose it’s exuberance at the end of term.

“We’ve complained before and they’ve had teachers standing in the street but after a while they get fed up.

“The way kids are brought up these days they don’t seem to have any responsibility or respect for anything.

“The road sweepers will come round but most of it will be picked up by residents.”

No-one from the school was available to comment but a member of the cleaning staff said the headteacher was aware of the incident.