Tourists on a Madrid siteseeing tour bus got a different type of tour experience when the driver tried to take a narrow bend but ended up crashing into a shop after being forced to take another route due to Easter holiday road closures.
Footage obtained by the Madrid Metropolitan shows how the Big Bus Madrid double-decker attempts to enter a broader road at nighttime in the Spanish capital.
Pedestrians walk past unbothered, but screams can be heard after the large vehicle crashes into a roadside building.
The illumination and advertising sign of a bakery were demolished in the incident which occurred around 8pm on 24th March, say local media.
Urban Planning and Mobility Councillor Francisco de Borja Carabante Muntada emphasised that the company would have to pay for all the damage.
Borja Carabante announced that his department opened an investigation.
The councillor said on 25th March: “The vehicle was not authorised to provide the service on that street and in that area.”
Local media speculate that Big Bus Madrid, who offer hop-on hop-off tours to the city’s major sights, changed some of its routes as some main roads were closed due to Easter processions.
An association of residents of the neighbourhood in the city centre argued that the incident occurred due to a “mismanagement of a kind of tourism that invades everything.”
Neighbourhood initiative spokesman Esteban Benito: “This shows a lack of professionalism of the driver and the company.
“If there had been more municipal resources such as mobility agents, they would have been able to prevent the bus from entering.”
He criticised: “Tourist services put a horrible pressure on residents.”
Benito claimed: “Madrid does not have a plan that takes into account all the negative effects generated by tourism.”
He warned: “Our neighbourhood will end up dying.”
The accident happened where the narrow San Bartolome Road merges with Augusto Figueroa Street.
The city council investigation continues.