A bus company has threatened to pull one of its school services after pupils ripped out seats.

The Hundred of Hoo Academy has been made aware by Arriva of repeated "serious damage" caused by youngsters and has been working closely with them to stop this behaviour.

In some occasions, staff have been travelling on bus routes alongside students to act as a deterrent and have asked the firm to remove bus passes from repeat offenders.

In a statement the travel company said: "Over the past few weeks, we have experienced repeated internal damage to our vehicles and this has led to us working closely with the academy to ensure pupils are educated of the impact of such negative behaviour.

"Sadly, more serious damage was sustained yesterday, as shown in the photographs below and the Academy has been made aware of this.

"We take the safety of our staff as well as other students and passengers very seriously, therefore if this anti-social behaviour and vandalism does not stop, Arriva will be left with no alternative but to remove the service completely.

"This would be an extremely difficult decision to make, one which would cause significant inconvenience to a number of passengers.

"We appreciate the continued support of the academy on this matter and are also reaching out to parents and carers, to ask for your support in raising awareness of this issue with your children, so that we do not have to implement this."

The pictures show a seat which has been ripped away, damage to the plastic backs and to some panelling.

A spokesman for the Leigh Academies Trust said: "Over the last few weeks staff at the Hundred of Hoo Academy have been working closely with Arriva Buses following concerns raised about vandalism occurring on their buses.

"As well as educating students on the impact of this type of anti-social behaviour the academy have taken a zero tolerance approach with students who are found to have caused any damage.

"Senior leaders from the academy have also been travelling on certain bus routes to monitor behaviour and act as a further deterrent to any vandalism.

"Where appropriate we have also requested to Arriva that bus passes are removed either temporarily or permanently in the case of repeat offenders.

"The academy will not tolerate any form of anti-social behaviour or vandalism and will be continuing to work with Arriva Buses to implement further measures until this type of behaviour is eradicated.

"We would like to echo Arriva Buses' request to parents to speak to their children to ensure that they do not participate in this type of behaviour.

"Like many schools we rely on bus operators to provide safe transport for our students and it is therefore essential that these routes remain in place."