VANDALS on a wrecking spree smashed five bus shelters in one road - just days after they'd been fixed from an earlier attack.

The repair bill for taxpayers will run into tens of thousands of pounds for the damage to the shelters on a 250-yard stretch on either side of Edinburgh Road, between Springboig and Barlanark in the East End.

Residents today hit out at the repeated attempts to destroy the shelters, saying it forced passengers to wait among broken glass and left the area looking like war-torn Beirut.

The first attack happened overnight on Saturday and the shelters were repaired within 48 hours.

But just three days later, over Tuesday and Wednesday, the same five stops were smashed.

The shelters were still being repaired yesterday afternoon.

It's estimated the cost to the council to repair the five shelters could be up to £17,000 each time - or £34,000 for the two attacks.

Council care worker Ann Hunter, from Springboig, is appalled at the wave of destruction.

She said: "To see the same shelters smashed again just days after they were repaired is shocking.

"A lot of old people use the shelters and are terrified when they see this.

"Not only is it dangerous, with glass everywhere, but it's very ugly.

"This is happening far too often and it makes Glasgow look like Beirut - the vandalism is out of control.

"I appeal to the parents of these youths to take more control of their kids."

Local resident Cathy Dempsey uses the bus shelters regularly and said they had only recently been installed.

She said it was terrible that people had to suffer but refused to let it put her off using the buses.

The stops were newly-installed by Trueform, a firm recently contracted by the council to put in 110 shelters across Glasgow over the next year.

Each shelter costs around £5500 to build and contains sheets of 10mm toughened glass.

The stops also have the capability for CCTV and real-time' electronic information boards which estimate bus arrival times.

SPT manages the stops on behalf of the council and is responsible for ensuring they are safe and well maintained.

Eric Stewart, director of bus operations at SPT, said: "Vandalism of bus stops is an area-wide problem which we are tackling.

"We are looking at investing in initiatives designed to identify the vandals as their behaviour is unacceptable.

"When vandalism is reported, we make the shelter safe and then fix whatever damage has been caused as quickly as we can."

SPT says each bus stop is inspected at least every two weeks and repairs are started within four hours of the damage being reported. Delays are sometimes caused if the vandalism isn't reported straight away.

The damage to the Edinburgh Road shelters was reported yesterday morning.

Derek Veale, Scottish operations manager for Trueform, said: "The local authority is responsible for informing us when stops need repaired and we work on their behalf as contractors."

Another spate of bus shelter attacks took place when 25 stops along a two-mile stretch from Bridge Street to Pollokshaws Road, in the South Side, were shattered by an airgun vandal.

This coincided with the introduction of new high-tech, high-cost shelters and council bosses feared the attacks could drive away the companies that installed them.

James Coleman, deputy council leader who represents Barlanark, said: "When the new hi-tech shelters were introduced in Glasgow the vandalism was horrific.

"At one point one of the companies responsible for installing them was threatening to pull out of the city.

"Thankfully, the vandalism has decreased, although there are certain hotspots in the city, like Edinburgh Road."

A police spokeswoman said: "We will continue to work with the council to tackle anti-social behaviour in the area."