HAVERING bucked the London-wide trend for a fall in the number of crimes committed on buses last year, seeing an increase of 7 per cent.

Reports of violence against people increased by 21 per cent, rising from 121 to 147 in the same period in 2009.

Cases of criminal damage were down by 27 per cent, but the number of robberies nearly doubled from 17 to 31 (82 per cent).

The latest available figures, released by Transport for London, compare the periods from April to December 2009 and 2010.

They are based on crimes recorded by the Metropolitan Police in Havering and stored on its database containing the word ‘bus’ or ‘bus stop’ between April and December 2010.

There were a total of 381 bus crimes in Havering, up from 357 recorded between April and December 2009.