POLICE officers are being drafted on to Merseyside school buses to stop Muslim pupils being racially abused.

The problems centre around verbal attacks on hijab- wearing girls at West Derby’s Holly Lodge Girls’ College. Last night, bus drivers who are accused of refusing to stop for the veil-wearing Muslim pupils in order to avoid trouble were also branded “racist”.

The Daily Post can reveal police officers will now board the buses to protect the school girls from the “racist” taunts of other passengers.

A probe was launched after concerned female members of Liverpool’s Muslim community highlighted the abuse of pupils travelling to Holly Lodge to police.

Police chiefs have since held talks with travel authority Merseytravel and the Muslim community.

Complaints are contained within a Merseyside Police Authority report that “young Muslim women are targeted by racists on the way to Holly Lodge School” and “often buses won’t stop” for the girls “easily identified by their veils”.

Merseyside police last night said community police officers would now board buses in the area to deter the racism and would work with city schools to remind pupils “racial abuse is a criminal offence.”

But police stressed the issue of drivers failing to stop for the girls was a matter for Merseytravel.

Merseytravel said it condemned “all acts of racism” and, after probing the claims, has “now drawn up an action plan to deal with and prevent any further incidents”. It was not, however, able to release details of the measures which might be implemented.

Members of the Muslim community said the problem was a long-running one.

Amina Ismail was approached by Holly Lodge pupils while overseeing a widening participation event for Hope University last year.

Ms Ismail, now employed by Liverpool John Moores University, said: “They said people driving past were being abusive because they were wearing the hijab (head scarf) at the bus stops on Queens Drive or West Derby Road.”

She said bus drivers refusing to stop were “cowardly” and that “they should not push their own personal prejudices on young people.”