A man in an inebriated condition who wanted to quickly reach his house at Attingal from Kollam city late in the night on Sunday hit upon the idea of driving a KSRTC bus home. Many buses, with the switch keys left on the dashboard, had been parked along Link Road at Asramam across the KSRTC depot. Any bus was an easy pick.
Aloysius, 25, chose a fast passenger that was scheduled to make a trip to Thiruvananthapuram in the morning. With ease and confidence, he negotiated the bus through Asramam and reached Chinnakada. But he faltered at the wheel at the traffic roundabout and the bus crashed into a 11-kV electric post inside the median there. The post got uprooted and power supply was snapped. The loud noise of the crash alerted the police patrol who rushed to the scene. By then, Aloysius had alighted from the bus and was standing there as a spectator.
But the police quickly identified him as one of his shoes had slipped from his feet and was lying under the driver’s seat. He was arrested, taken to the district hospital and subjected to blood test for alcohol content.
The police said Aloysius reached the bus depot late in the night to take a bus to Attingal. But he lost patience waiting and thought of a quick way to reach home by lifting a bus. He was produced before a magistrate court here and remanded.
KSRTC officials said the bus had incurred damage of more than ₹25,000 and the KSEB would have to replace the electric post, which had a concrete base. Meanwhile questions are also being asked why the switch keys of the buses parked outside the depot after the day’s schedule are left on the dashboard. KSRTC officers clarified that it is for the convenience of the mechanics.
