In all my years working for newspapers, I have never witnessed such an overwhelming response as I did this week following Shop A Yob Bingo.

Experience has taught me News Shopper readers will never fail to answer a rallying call from their No 1 local newspaper but the scale of the response and the emotion expressed has been unequalled.

I am absolutely delighted to be able to inform you, that as a result of your efforts, 73 of the 84 yobs and graffiti artists we featured in our special wrap were named by Friday lunchtime.

Phones rang red hot in the police station and bus garage as officers were pushed to the limit to answer calls. They even reported that, for the first time ever, their answerphone ran out of tape!

  • BROTHERLY LOVE!: A teenager, was so horrified by the actions of his sibling he rang in to shop his own brother.
  • OH DEAR: Another yobbo, was so confused about why his picture had appeared in the paper he actually managed to call up and accidentally shopped himself.
  • OTHERS FOLLOW: National tabloid The Sun wasn't afraid to been seen copying our Shop A Yob. How long will it be before it's running its own Bingo game?
  • TOO LATE: Sales of Shopper rocketed as graffiti artists bought up many newsagent's entire stock in a bid to avoid capture. Sorry, scumbags, we've already reached more than 700,000 loyal readers!
  • SHARP LESSON: Teachers gave us names of the pupils they recognised but many were too afraid to be identified.

Detective Sergeant Kurt Conroy, who has been dealing with Shop A Yob since its launch, said he was "extremely pleased" with the reaction. He said: "We set aside two weeks for this operation but now I don't know if it will be enough."

Police will now spend a week putting all the intelligence together before an operation to arrest the suspects begins on June 7.

Superintendent John Powell described the Shop A Yob special as "pretty damn impressive".

He said: "This is just what we need the community to do: stand up for itself and put a stop to what may be crime at a lower level but it is something which has a significant impact on the community forced to travel on graffiti-filled buses.

"It is high time something was done about it and News Shopper's campaign and the community's public-spiritedness are a significant step towards combating this grossly anti-social behaviour."

Police vow all yobs identified will be rounded-up, arrested and charged and don't worry, we'll make sure you see justice is done and read about in your Shopper.

Newspaper colleagues from around the country have already contacted me for further details. They say your response has already persuaded them they must publish similar schemes.

I have received nothing but positive feedback from all who played Shop A Yob Bingo. And, overwhelmingly, people are united in their reason for responding "It's great that someone is finally standing up to these mindless yobs and hooligans. Let's make them feel bad, for a change".

I would like to persoanlly thank everyone who emailed me or telephoned me to express support for this campaign.

London Central Buses and its staff deserve huge credit for the role they played and many other transport companies are already seeking to follow in its footsteps.