should run on Hallowe'en night.

But Public Transportation Board director Herman Basden said unionised drivers -- whose vehicles have run a gauntlet of eggs and other objects being thrown at them in recent weeks -- have said they will not work on October 31 after 5.15 p.m..

Mr. Basden said he agreed wholeheartedly with the parents who, at a meeting of the National Parent Teachers Association at BIU headquarters on Wednesday, wanted to see normal bus service.

The parents said curtailing the service could be perceived as bowing to trouble makers.

Yesterday Mr. Basden said he had received a letter from the Bus Operators and Allied Workers division of the BIU saying the drivers will be withdrawing their labour.

"I want to make it clear that I am against any large organisation like the Public Transportation Board, being seen to be moving one inch out of normal procedure in order to satisfy the militant element,'' he said.

"We are in effect moving back when we should be standing firm. I am not happy with the drivers' decision but we can understand it. They are the ones in the front line.'' CRIME CRM