When a sheet is transported as passed through a first roller pair equipped with a torque limiter and through a second roller pair, a loop formed in the sheet between the first roller pair and the second roller pair is cleared by a method wherein the amount of sheet loop is decreased by driving the second roller pair and disabling the first roller pair and wherein at the time when the sheet loop is decreased to a predetermined amount, a velocity of clearing the loop is lowered by rotating the first roller pair at a lower peripheral velocity than that of the second roller pair.