A TERRIFIED child came within inches of serious injury after yobs hurled a brick through the window of an Inverclyde bus.

A gang of mindless hooligans 'ambushed' the McGill's x7 service in a nighttime attack in Port Glasgow, a shocked eyewitness told the Tele.

Greenock man Mark Gatens, 24, who uses the service to get to work in Braehead, was one of around a dozen passengers on board when the window was smashed.

He said: “At first, I thought they had thrown eggs, I had my earphones on but it was quite a loud smash.

“Next thing I knew the whole bus shuddered and the glass went right in.

“The driver had to do an emergency stop on the roundabout and get everyone to the front of the bus because there was glass everywhere at the back, it was quite a bad one.

“We were going past where the Dubbs Road shops are with the community centre on our right and kids ran across the road from left to right and basically ambushed the bus.

“The whole right hand side panel at the back was all smashed in, myself and the driver went out to see if we could see the kids but they’d done a runner by that point.”

READ MORE: Greenock Morton reveal the names of six players set to depart the club

McGill's bosses have branded the incident - which caused £1,000 worth of damage - a ‘reprehensible attack’.

Passenger Mark says someone could have been seriously injured or killed as a result of the appalling incident.

He said: “I was at the front of the bus but one of the younger lads said that it was within a foot of hitting him.

“I would say it must have been a hand length away.

“I could have been sitting there, or it could have been a baby, or an older person – it’s scary to think about. It really could have been a lot worse.

Support local journalism by subscribing to the Greenock Telegraph HERE.

“I think it’s careless from these kids, but they’ll keep doing it unless something is done.

“Eggs can be cleaned up but bricks and boulders are a threat to life.

“You’d fear for your life if you were sitting at the window and something like that was thrown through.”

McGill's are working with police in a bid to find the culprits.

A company spokesperson said: "This is a reprehensible attack on one of our vehicles, its passengers and our staff. 

"Thankfully there were no injuries sustained in the incident despite the brick missing one of our passengers by a narrow margin.

“We are now working closely with police and making significant resource available, including time to review CCTV footage, to identify those responsible."

It's not the first time a McGill's bus has come under attack.

The company withdrew a service in 2015 after one of its public service vehicles had two of its windows smashed by thugs in Larkfield.

That decision came after four previous attacks in the space of eight weeks.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said of the latest incident: “We received a report of a vandalism to the window of a bus on Dubbs Road, Port Glasgow, around 9.50pm on Tuesday, 9 May, 2023.

“Enquiries are at an early stage.”