A BUS driver who helped a sick passenger by diverting from his route crashed into a bridge, ripping the roof from his double-decker.

The Pike coaches driver, who had just dropped youngsters off at Harrow Way Community School, was carrying an ill parent who needed to go to hospital.

Having dropped the parent at the Andover War Memorial Hospital, the driver failed to realise the height of the bridge on Charlton Road and ripped off his top deck as he passed under it.

The incident happened just after the school run on Tuesday at around 8.50am, although minimal disruption was caused to traffic.

The driver escaped without injury, although was a little shaken by the experience.

A spokesman for Pike Coaches said: “The double-decker was taking a route that none of the buses would usually drive down. Unfortun-ately it was just down to driver error. The vehicle’s top deck was empty of passengers and pupils and no one was hurt.”