I REFER to your article 'Trouble may prove costly' (Advertiser, March 19).

My husband was a victim of mindless thugs while carrying out his work as a bus driver in Redditch last year.

As a result, he has been off sick for more than nine months with acute stress and depression through no fault of his own and the uncertainty of not knowing if he will ever be able to carry out his job again.

My plea is not to these thugs whose lights have gone out but to parents, friends and neighbours.

They know who these youngsters are who terrorise people and commit crime and go around bragging and boasting.

I would like to challenge any reader to think for a moment or imagine if a member of their family was hurt on the buses or while going about their daily lives, would they stay silent if they knew the people carrying out these attacks?

We cannot sit back and let a small minority ruin our community.

They must not win and allow buses to be taken off certain routes as decent people rely on these buses to go about their daily lives and why should they be penalised?

I believe it's about time people in the community started 'shopping' these youngsters and the police, bus companies and businesses should get together and offer rewards to catch these culprits, who then should be named and shamed, and stiffer sentences should be given in order to deter others.

My family has suffered mentally and financially because of the trauma these thugs have caused my husband and I would not like anyone else to experience it.

Name and address supplied