Jewish pupils have been subjected to a physical and verbal antisemitic assault on a bus home.

One pupil from Yavneh College in Borehamwood was elbowed in the face in the incident, which took place on Tuesday on a 107 bus between Borehamwood and Barnet.

One parent e-mailed the JC about the incident and said: “My daughter travels to and from school on the 107. She called me on her way home and was very distressed. Boys from another school verbally and physically attacked boys from year seven and nine. They slapped them — completely unprovoked — in the presence of adults on the bus. After the incident, a woman sitting next to one of the victims burst into tears.”

Police in Hertfordshire have begun an investigation into what happened on the bus and have confirmed that the matter was being dealt with as a racist incident.

Yavneh head Dr Dena Coleman said: “There was an incident on a bus where a Yavneh College pupil was elbowed in the cheek by a youth and antisemitic abuse was voiced.

“The matter has been reported to both the police and the CST and we are working with them to resolve this matter.”

Mark Gardner of the CST said: “There is a recurring problem with safety issues for children on public transport, and this often affects Jewish school pupils. CST takes such cases extremely seriously and has been working closely with police and Yavneh School to try and deal with this latest instance.

“We note that a previous recent case at JFS led to a successful prosecution, and hope that this will be the eventual outcome of these current problems.”