IPSWICH: A man is due to appear before magistrates on Wednesday<17.2> after being charged with dangerous driving following a crash in Woodbridge Road.

Tony Mower, of Burke Road, Ipswich, has also been charged with the theft of copper piping from Ipswich Hospital.

The piping is said to be worth around �2,000.

The 27-year-old has been on police bail since being arrested during the investigation, which began after a transit van slewed across Woodbridge Road on November 7.

In addition to the two offences Mower was charged with this week <12.2>, he is also accused of driving a vehicle without insurance.

Mower is scheduled to make his first court appearance to answer the accusations at South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court.

He is currently on police bail.

Copper was allegedly stolen from near the maternity wing at the Heath Road hospital around 8.15pm on the Saturday night that the annual firework display was taking place in Christchurch Park.

A few minutes later a van is believed to have hit the central island in Woodbridge Road, near the junction of Brunswick Road, crashed into railings and then spun into the garden wall of one of the homes nearby.

No arrests were made at the time.

Carol Garner, whose wall was damaged, said shortly afterwards: “I was sitting at home and heard this huge bang. It was much louder than a firework.

“My wall was knocked down a couple of years ago and I knew the same thing had happened again.

“I’m just relieved no one was hurt.”