A bus service had to be suspended after youths pelted vehicles with eggs and other missiles.

Stagecoach took the drastic decision after buses were targeted in an area of Ashford that was previously a 'no-go' zone for public transport.

The company announced that "multiple incidents" of buses being pelted with objects "including eggs" had forced bosses to withdraw services to Bridgefield estate.

Services to the estate were suspended at 8.30pm on Monday, after a number of buses were targeted, with no vehicles going to the estate for the rest of the evening.

A stagecoach spokesman said: "Targeting a moving vehicle in this way is extremely serious and could endanger the safety of people in the vehicle and other road users.

"The safety of our passengers as well as our driving colleagues is our number one priority.

"While we don’t take this course of action lightly, we have a zero-tolerance approach to attacks and vandalism, and we won’t accept it."

The spokesman added that services were restored "pretty soon afterwards" and said police were "very helpful".

The incidents came almost exactly three years after a number of threatening incidents against drivers saw the company refuse to enter the estate at night.

One incident involved a teenager asking to drive a Stagecoach bus and, when he was denied, he threatened the driver.

The situation became so severe that for a time, all services past 6pm were indefinitely suspended – although they are now running again until 11.19pm.