A county council wants to stop spitting, fighting and bottle-throwing on school buses with a reward scheme.

Bad behaviour on school buses is behind the move in Lincolnshire, which is aimed at the county's 24,000 bus-riding pupils.

Bus drivers hope it will put an end to problems like children spitting out of the window or throwing objects at each other.

Bus driver Colin Booth said: "I've had children trying to throw someone out the upper-deck emergency exit.

Noisy pupils

"I've had bottles thrown at cars, Coke cans thrown at students, spitting at people on the pavement through the top windows."

"That's apart from general fighting amongst themselves. It never ceases to amaze you what they can get up to, really."

Colin Booth: Fed up with unruly pupils

One pupil said: "I've seen a lot of people throwing things out the window and I've been bullied on the bus."

Another pupil added: "It's quite noisy... some of the kids are hyperactive in the morning and they throw things around like peas and Skittles.

"It can get quite rough sometimes and I think it would be better if something was done about it."

The Max Respect card offers points to the pupils that can be swapped for prizes, but points will be deducted for bad behaviour.

Margaret Brown, deputy head of Robert Pattison School, said: "Sometimes pupils on buses, when unsupervised, are not as thoughtful as they should be."

"This scheme hopes to address that and let children have a pleasant journey to school and are ready to work hard when they get there."

The Red Arrows acrobatic team staged a special flypast at Pattison School to mark the start of the Max Respect initiative.