A WARRANT has been issued for the arrest of a school bus driver after he failed to turn up for court to be sentenced for careless driving.

Dave Gooderham

A WARRANT has been issued for the arrest of a school bus driver after he failed to turn up for court to be sentenced for careless driving.

Ivo Karp was last month convicted after slicing the roof off his double decker bus when it hit a railway bridge during an accident in a Suffolk village.

He was found guilty in his absence following the incident in September which saw the roof left “crumpled” behind the bus on the C663 in Little Saxham, near Bury St Edmunds.

But once again he failed to appear before magistrates in Sudbury yesterday who issued a warrant for Karp's arrest after he failed to arrive at his sentencing hearing.

Karp, 51, of Bath Court, was travelling near the Saxham business park when the accident happened at about 4.20pm on September 9.

A previous hearing heard that Karp's bus, which had no passengers at the time, collided with the bridge and the roof ripped off. Scratch marks were also found on the underside of the bridge although no rail services were affected by the crash.

The accident happened just 20 minutes after the bus - owned by Haverhill based Burtons Coaches - dropped off the last of its pupils.

It had been travelling from Denham to Bury when the accident happened causing thousands of pounds of damage.

In a statement read out in court at the hearing last month, Pc Joe Skippen said: “Upon arrival (at the accident scene) I saw a double decker bus minus its roof which was lying crumpled behind the bus.

“There was scratch marks on the underside of the bridge. The defendant was interviewed and cautioned by police but he didn't wish to add anything.”

Karp was said to have incurred nine driving penalty points in the last 18 months - six for speeding and three for careless driving and magistrates had earlier warned that he could be banned from driving.