IT WILL take around two weeks for a bus that crashed into a Headington home to be removed.

Last week, an Oxford Bus Company vehicle, which appeared to be 'driver-less' at the time, rolled into two council homes – one facing Morrell Avenue and the other on the corner of East Avenue.

It is now expected that it will take up to two weeks to remove the bus from the home, as the property is structurally unsafe.

Extensive work needs to be carried out to brace the walls, roof, and upper floor of the home on Morrell Avenue.

Once the bus has been removed, contractors will be able to determine the full extent of the work required and decide when the property is safe for the family to return.

At the site yesterday, metal fences had been put around the home as Oxford Direct Services continued its work to remove the Number 15 bus.

The two families affected by the incident have been evacuated by Oxford City Council, who own the homes, to a nearby hotel.

A video, that has now been seen over 80,000 times on Facebook, shows the empty bus rolling down the hill and crashing into the house, while a man, believed to be the driver, was not on the bus at the time.

Robert Dyer, 55, was at home when the vehicle crashed into the back of his house on Wednesday afternoon last week.

He said: "I was sat in the living room when I heard what sounded like a bomb.

“I saw smoke and the banging sound kept going. All my pets went completely mad and in the corner of my eye I saw cracks in the wall.

“We’re absolutely distraught and gutted."

A spokesperson for Oxford Bus Company said: "It is a complex situation and it is our priority is to get the bus removed as soon as it is safe to do and we are working with key partners to achieve this.

“We have not been able to examine the vehicle so far as we are working with relevant parties on how to recover the vehicle safely from the site of the incident to our Cowley depot to allow this to happen.

"However, our preliminary investigation and knowledge of the vehicle type involved suggest at this early stage that the primary cause was not related to any mechanical defect, but we cannot confirm this fully until the vehicle has been recovered."

The bus company could not comment on whether the driver still worked there.