A prominent local politician has hit out at police in the aftermath of appalling arson attacks on community minibuses.

District councillor Barry Thorne said he was "completely dismayed" when he heard about the torching of two Keighley Community Transport buses, valued at £25,000, by "mindless idiots" last week, just three months after the last attack.

The vehicles, one of which had been donated by Cllr Thorne when he was Lord Mayor of Bradford and was known affectionately as "Barry's Bus", were set alight in their garage compound in Holycroft Street, Keighley.

The deputy leader of Bradford Council's Labour group said: "What are the police doing? This is the third vehicle in the space of four months -- in the same place!

"To have one torched is upsetting and frightening, but three. I'm not saying it's their fault, but I just feel personally let down by the police, especially as one of the buses meant a great deal to my family.

"There appears to be a lack of action in that area. I do not feel they have treated it as seriously as I would have thought. I would have thought some surveillance was appropriate."

"What the police have got to realise is that there's a lot of disabled people in Keighley who will be left isolated by this."

Cllr Thorne believes that someone in the area has information regarding the incident, and urged them to contact the authorities.

Chief Insp Steve Hobson, of West Yorkshire Police, said: "I am at a loss as to why mindless individuals should wish to cause so much damage to property belonging to an organisation that does so much good in the community.

"We will do all that we possibly can to ascertain who is responsible in order to bring them to justice.

"Police officers in Keighley answer hundreds of calls from the public each and every day, and it is impossible to have a police presence permanently outside the premises.

"The cowards that these offenders are means that they do not cause such destruction when the police are about -- we therefore need the public's help in identifying them.

"These incidents are currently under active investigation and we are doing all we possibly can to apprehend those responsible."

Keighley Community Transport chairman Brian Hudson told the KN that the organisation, which is run by volunteers, could not afford to replace the vehicles and was now faced with making cutbacks.

Mr Hudson said: "One of our vehicles was torched in August and we had to find £14,500 to replace it. We can't go on like that. We have no more money to replace these latest two vehicles.

"The consequences are that there's a lot of people who are disadvantaged who are not going to be able to get around. It's the people who can't manage who are going to be hit."

Mr Hudson, however, had some of his faith restored later that day when he received a donation from the Keighley Ladies' Bowls Club.

He explained: "A woman came down out of the blue with a cheque for £270. It was pure coincidence but when she saw the buses she said: 'I'm sorry it's not the cost of a new bus'. So people aren't all bad."

And Cllr Thorne this week pledged his support for a special campaign to raise money to replace one of the buses.

He said: "I urge the people and businesses of Keighley to dig deep during this festive time and to restore Christmas to the individuals who would be isolated without this form of transport."