A FORMER bus driver banned from driving after being involved in an accident which killed a Norfolk teenager was given a suspended prison sentence yesterday for flouting the court order.

A FORMER bus driver banned from driving after being involved in an accident which killed a Norfolk teenager was given a suspended prison sentence yesterday for flouting the court order.

Dennis Kuhn was disqualified for driving in January when he pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention after the First bus he was at the wheel of was involved in a fatal accident.

Yarmouth college student Matthew Eckett was killed in the crash after his moped and Kuhn's bus were in a collision just yards from the 17-year-old's Caister home last July.

Yesterday Kuhn, 48, was given an eight week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, after he admitted driving a Peugeot Partner within two months of receiving a year and a half ban for being involved in the fatal smash.

When magistrates told him that he could have been jailed Kuhn collapsed in the dock in front of Matthew's family.

Yarmouth Magistrates Court heard that on February 23 Kuhn, of Beach Road, Scratby, had illegally driven his father to Yarmouth railway station so they could check train times.

Stephen Poole, prosecuting, said: “He had driven from his home through Caister, down Caister Road, where the vehicle was trapped by a camera. He then went to the railway station. His father was also in the vehicle.

“That was obviously within a short time of the disqualification.”

Rob New, mitigating for Kuhn, said that his client's life had been put on hold since Matthew Eckett's death.

He said: “Since the accident he has not been in the best of health. It has had a significant impact on him.

“He has not had any employment. He effectively has been housebound since the incident.”