A teenager has been ordered to pay more than £2,000 for a spate of “senseless” criminal damage that saw him slash bus seats and steal on-board security cameras.

The 16-year-old, from Rowley Regis, struck nine times over a three-week period in August and September on National Express buses in the Halesowen and Stourbridge area.

Officers from West Midlands Police’s Safer Travel team worked with National Express to investigate the damage and led to the arrest of the teenager last month.

He went on to admit the offences at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court on 18 October and was given a six-month referral order and ordered to pay costs and compensation totalling £2,100 to National Express. Tom Stables, Managing Director of National Express West Midlands, said:

"We will not tolerate this kind of destructive behaviour. Damaging buses like this puts them out of service while we repair them, and that affects our passengers' journeys.

"We work very closely with Safer Travel police and we are grateful for their hard work in bringing this offender to justice."

PC Chris Milburn, from West Midlands Police’s Safer Travel team, added: “We work hard to stamp down this kind of behaviour and this is just an example of the repercussions of these senseless acts.”