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Suspended sentence for drink driver who crashed into school bus carrying 20 students

A DRINK driver, who crashed into a school bus carrying 20 children as he made his way home after leaving a pub, has been given a suspended sentence and banned from driving for three years.

Andrew John Close (37), of Beechland Drive in Clady, Co Derry, admitted charges of dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol in his breath, following the crash at at Largy Road at 4.45pm on February 2 this year.

Ballymena Magistrates Court was told yesterday that damage was caused to the front of Close's Peugeot car and to the rear of the Translink bus but there were no reports of any injuries.

Close had a reading of 84 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, while the legal limit is 35mcgs.

A prosecutor said the defendant told police he had being doing around 60mph when he looked down after hearing a warning beep from his car and hadn't noticed the bus.

Defence solicitor Garret McCann said on the day in question his client had been in a pub in the Randalstown area and "made the foolish decision to drive home".

The lawyer said there was a "mechanical fault" in the car and it was "by the grace of God" nobody was injured.

District Judge Nigel Broderick said it was the fourth time Close had been caught in a vehicle with excess alcohol.

However he said, given his guilty plea, and the fact he was in employment meant he was not going to send him to prison.

The judge imposed a three months jail sentence, suspended for 18 months and banned Close from driving for three years.