A SERIAL bus thief who took a double-decker on a 50-mile joyride has been told he needs "treatment, not imprisonment."

Nicholas Attwell stole the bus from Swanage before going on a drive across Dorset and Somerset, Taunton Crown Court heard.

At the end of the joyride he also broke into two commercial buildings but he avoided jail when he appeared before Judge David Ticehurst yesterday.

Attwell, 54, from Utrecht Court in Christchurch, has more than 100 previous convictions including stealing buses and lorries in Bournemouth and Witney in Oxfordshire.

The court heard he has a form of autism and he was told that he faces jail if steals a bus again.

Today he was sentenced for a total of 10 offences including theft, criminal damage, driving while disqualified, two burglaries and aggravated vehicle taking.

He was given a two-year suspended jail sentence with a 40-day rehabilitation and activity requirement. He was also banned from driving for three years.

When he appeared before Somerset magistrates last month, the court heard Attwell crashed into two double decker buses at a depot in Swanage before driving the stolen vehicle along main roads and dual carriageways. He was banned from driving for a similar offence at the time.

When he broke into two business premises in Yeovil, he stole a charity collection box before phoning his social worker to tell her what he had done.