I was desperately sad to witness, along with everyone else on the number four bus in Tadcaster Road at the same time as me on Thursday, a brazen crime.

A child on a chopper bike, no more than nine years old, was busily smashing his way into and then stealing a padlocked bike near the Hob Moor bus stop.

I knew that York police would show little interest if I reported it. Our 999 is only for serious cases.

But my heart was broken that day, knowing that this child could rapidly become a hardened criminal destined for our prisons of tomorrow.

Phil Shepherdson,

Woodthorpe, York