Altercation between crew of twobuses holds up traffic for one hour

Traffic was held up on a two-km stretch on Mettupalayam Road in the city on Friday morning.

Traffic was held up for an hour on a two-km stretch from Saibaba Temple to Ganga Hospital on Coimbatore-Mettupalayam Road on Friday morning, following a quarrel between the crew of a TNSTC bus and a private bus over running time.

Over 50 passengers on board the two buses were stranded. Among the passengers was a differently abled man, accompanied by a mentally-challenged boy and an old woman, heading for Tiruchendur temple from Thudiyalur.

Narrating his ordeal, the man said the crew of both the buses operating on the same route between Thudiyalur and Podanur got into an altercation over running time from the moment the buses left Thudiyalur.

The buses raced against each other on Coimbatore-Mettupalayam Road and stopped in the middle of the road around 10.30 a.m. disrupting the peak hour traffic, with crew continuing their fight.

When contacted, top officials of TNSTC said that they were unaware of the incident and promised to take appropriate action after getting the details.