Pensioners sitting on a bus were terrorised by a gang of abusive school kids.

Teenage louts shook the vehicle as it waited at a bus stop, banged on the sides then opened the windows and spat on people sitting inside.

The yobs were wearing the uniform of Patcham High School which last year was accused of having the worst reputation for bus travel of any school in Brighton and Hove.

Passenger David Burgess witnessed the hooliganism on last night's 5B service as he travelled from Hove to Preston Park.

The 43-year-old English teacher was shocked by what he saw.

He said: "It was as if I was watching an episode of Clockwork Orange. It was as if the whole world had gone crazy."

The attack took place at about 4pm when the bus stopped outside the school in London Road.

Mr Burgess, from Preston Park, said: "As the passengers were getting on and off, a group of four or five boys were banging on the side of the bus very hard, trying to rock the bus.

"The boys proceeded to push open the top windows and started to spit into the bus from outside. We couldn't quite believe what was happening."

Mr Burgess, who was sitting on the other side of the aisle, said there were a number of elderly women underneath those windows.

A couple of passengers forced the windows shut and as the bus pulled away the boys, aged about 12 or 13, made abusive gestures.

Mr Burgess said: "I felt so sorry for the old people. These are pensioners - in most societies at that age you are given some respect. They were being spat on. It was disgusting. I was so horrified."

The teacher, who works at a language school in Hove, recently returned to the UK after spending 20 years in Japan where he said such behaviour would be unthinkable.

On the same bus route a month ago Mr Burgess was sitting on a vehicle that was stoned by a group of boys also about 12 or 13, although those pupils were not from Patcham High.

He said: "In Japan, people are well-behaved. Coming back here, I am just shocked because when I left England 20 years ago that sort of thing would never have happened."

Last year Roger French, the manager of Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company, spoke out against "mindless yobbishness" on the school run, and singled out Patcham High pupils as among the worst offenders. Since then pupil bus monitors have been appointed and teachers have closely supervised students getting on and off buses at school.

Mr French said things have improved on school buses but behaviour can still be poor when pupils are dispersed onto regular services.

He said: "It is most unfortunate that there is this appalling behaviour. I really would urge the school and parents to instill a sense of responsibility into these students because it doesn't do either themselves or the school any good."

Diane Bonner, the finance manager at Patcham High School, said: "We do not condone bad behaviour inside or outside school. We will work hard with the bus company to identify the students involved."