Passengers were left terrified after a schoolboy set off a firework inside a bus in Gorleston.

Police received a call from First Bus at 4.20pm yesterday (November 2) reporting that a pupil had set off a firework on the top floor of a double decker bus.

The incident happened at around 3.15pm on the X11 service in Gorleston, near the James Paget Hospital, and there were 46 passengers on board.

In a video circulated widely on social media, a boy in school uniform is seen lighting a firework and setting it off, causing sparks to shoot out and passengers to leap from their seats.

All passengers had to be evacuated due to the smoke, but fortunately no one was injured.

There was damage caused to one of the bus seats and the flooring.

Chris Speed, operations director at First Eastern Counties, said: “Yesterday afternoon we experienced a serious incident when a firework was lit by schoolchildren on a bus in Gorleston.

"Thankfully no injuries were sustained to any of our passengers or driver on board, but this mindless activity is very concerning.

"We are working closely with the police to try and identify and apprehend the people involved.

“The safety and wellbeing of our staff and customers is our priority at all times and if we experience any further incidents, we may need to cancel or divert services away from where the activity is taking place at that time.

"We apologise in advance but this worrying activity inevitably has an impact on our ability to operate buses safely which unfortunately can affect the wider community we serve if we need to temporarily divert services."