FAMILY-RUN firm Faresaver has been left devastated after vandals damaged 12 of its buses and caused at least £30,000 worth of damage.

More than 60 windows were smashed, seven fire extinguishers stolen or let off and emergency hammers stolen from inside buses during the senseless attack at Thingley sidings off Easton Lane between August 12 and 19.

Despite the scale of the damage, the Chippenham firm has vowed to ensure that none of its services are affected while the vehicles are out of service.

“We have grown our premises

on Bumpers Farm and we park our old vehicles and those

waiting to come into the fleet down there,” said general manager Daniel Pickford, who runs Faresaver with his dad John and brother Justin.

“We have about 15 buses down there. Someone went down last Friday as we had sold a vehicle and called me to say you should come take a look at this.

“There were lots of windows smashed but until you see it first-hand you don’t appreciate the scale of the destruction – and the cost.

“There were buses with glass hanging out of them and a few of the panels were dented.

“A year ago we had some damage but nothing on this scale and at the time we thought it was probably kids messing around.

“We thought we were lucky that they only did a couple of vehicles. After that we kept an eye on it but we didn’t think anything more of it.

“Obviously it’s very frustrating and upsetting.”

Founded in 1979, the company has been based at Bumpers Farm for more than 20 years and has nearly 70 buses in its fleet.

The firm says there has been no disruption to services and buses will be operating when the schools go back next month.

“It’s not just the cost – we’re probably covered by insurance – it’s just the time and effort involved in getting all the buses fixed,” added Mr Pickford.

“It’s fortunate that the vehicles we have down there are not in daily use.

“We do school transport service and we’re making sure that when the schools go back in a couple of weeks we have enough that are going to be working.”

PC Les Fletcher from Chippenham Police said: “This act of vandalism could have had a massive impact on bus services.

“Anyone with information should call 101 and quote ref 54160075194.”