A BUS driver was travelling at just 11mph when the vehicle he was driving collided with a railway bridge in Headbourne Worthy.

A source close to the Echo's sister paper the Hampshire Chronicle has said that the speed was discovered during an investigation into the collision in Wellhouse Lane on Thursday September 10.

Three children required surgery for “potentially life-threatening injuries”, while 12 others suffered minor injuries when the top of a double-decker bus on its way to Henry Beaufort School was ripped off.

All of those injured were youngsters aged between 11 and 16.

The source has said that the police investigation is likely to take three months, but the driver has yet to be charged.

If the decision is made to charge the driver they could be prosecuted under several different legislation, but the driver has not been arrested at this stage. They have spoken to police and given their account of what took place.

Speaking previously Incident Commander Inspector Andy Tester from the Road Policing Unit said: “There are various systems in the bus that will tell us how fast the bus was going, we believe there was CCTV in the bus that will give us vital information about what happened in the immediate moments before this crash.

“It does show that there must have been quite a significant impact between the bus and the bridge parapet and that has completely removed the roof front to back and that does take a degree of force.”

Inspector Tester said that it “was lucky” that there were no fatalities in the incident.

He added: “For all the emergency services from ambulance and police that turned up initially it was a very difficult scene.”