Safety shields have been installed on buses which travel to areas where drivers have been attacked.
Bus company Arriva said its whole fleet will eventually be fitted with shatter-proof plastic screens to protect drivers from violent thugs.
The company says it has yet to estimate the total cost of the scheme, but says it has no choice but to protect its drivers. Buses which travel to Shoebury at vulnerable times have been among the first to be fitted with the screens.
Drivers on Shoebury routes have suffered appalling attacks in recent months.
Last November a 32-year-old driver, Richard Jordan, was left in agony after two men threw bleach in his face and stole £70 as he stopped his number seven bus in Picasso Way.
In February a driver was stabbed in the neck in public toilets on Shoebury Common when he stopped for a break.
Cleaners found him lying in a pool of blood after the attack in which his cash box was stolen.
Two weeks later a 47-year-old driver was punched in the face at a bus stop in Terminal Close and £20 of his own money was stolen.
Arriva spokesman, Kevin Hawkins, said: "We have a programme for the fitting of safety shields so we are progressing through that.
"The most obvious ones are being done first."
Published Friday, May 16, 2003
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