Vandals target buses for disabled

By Shaun Inguanzo
VANDALS deprived students with disabilities of one of their daily highlights after several buses catering for special needs had their windows smashed last week.
Victoria Police spokeswoman Louisa Won said the Grenda bus compound in Foster Street, Dandenong, was broken into by an unknown number of people who are believed to have entered up to six buses and used emergency hammers to break windows.
Four of the buses are used for transporting disabled children from their homes to school, including the Glenallen School in Glen Waverley.
The others included an old training bus and a regular charter bus.
Grenda managing director Kevin Norris said the buses were fixed later that day, but the attack had inconvenienced disabled children and their families, who relied on the service to get their children to school.
He said the bus trip was also an important part of the day for the students.
“A lot of the kids like regularity in their day, and quite often the bus trip is a bit of a highlight for them.
“But they have missed out on that.”
Mr Norris said Grenda offered cab fares for students inconvenienced by the bus attack, so they could get to school with little disruption.
Glenallen School principal Elizabeth Greene praised the bus company, and also parents, for their efforts in getting the children safely to school.
“It was a minimum disruption fortunately, due to some good processes in place.”Ms Greene said the attack was beyond comprehension.
“It is quite beyond me, this sort of behaviour,” she said. Mr Norris said the attack on the bus compound was the second in two weeks.
The first incident involved the theft of garden maintenance tools from a shed. Police are reviewing security footage, and have called for anyone with information to phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.