Speeding driver jailed after crashing into bus causing it to veer off the road into a Bristol home

  • Watch the moment a speeding driver hit a bus which was then sent careering into a house.

A speeding driver has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after he hit a double-decker bus, causing it to veer off course and crash into a house in Bristol.

Lawrence Salaou, of no fixed address, appeared at Bristol Crown Court today (20 April) after pleading guilty to dangerous driving.

The court heard how, on Thursday 15 December last year, Salaou was driving a VW Golf at speed through a 20mph zone. He went through a red light and struck a bus, which then veered off the road and collided with a house on Highridge Road in Bishopsworth.

Despite being home at the time of the crash, no one in the Rich family was hurt however their home was rendered 'unlivable' and they have been forced to move out.

The family have been unable to move back home since the accident

Speaking to ITV News at the time, homeowner Hayden Rich said: "We were sat in the front room, me and my wife... and we heard a large bang that we thought was like an empty lorry banging, like a quarry lorry, a loud bang.

"We didn't know if it was a gas explosion, an electric explosion, we just didn't know. A plume of dust coming through the front door and people shouting, and we still didn't know what had happened.

"The front door had gone, was tilted, and there was a man from across the road, a roofer we know, and he was just trying to get us out.

"He was panicking, he didn't know if we were hurt. He was just shouting at me: 'A bus has hit your house!' Utter chaos."

The family have still been unable to return home and an estimated £300,000 worth of repairs are needed before the house will be safe again.

  • The house will cost about £300,000 to repair

Officers from the force's Operation Remedy team used the blood from the airbag to identify Salaou as the driver of the vehicle.

His passenger was also identified and arrested before being released without charge.

Operation Remedy Insp Steve Davey said: "The manner in which Salaou was driving was dangerous and it's very fortunate that nobody was injured in the collision.

"However, the incident has left a family displaced and without a home for a number of months, as the condition of their home can only be described as unliveable.

"We hope that this sentence serves as a deterrent to anyone thinking of driving dangerously on our roads and provides justice to those who were on the bus and who own the badly damaged house."