Police say an incident beginning with the theft of a city bus in London ended 45 minutes later in a ditch in Belmont, Ont., with damages totalling $300,000.
According to police, a woman got into a London Transit Commission bus parked inside the secure garage on Highbury Avenue North, just south of Brydges Street, at roughly 3:15 a.m. Saturday and tried to reverse it through the southern entrance door.
Police say she exited the damaged bus, got into a second bus in the same garage, and then drove that bus through a second door on the west side of the building.
The stolen bus got onto Highbury Avenue and ended up in the downtown core, where several police officers followed from a distance as the bus reportedly ran “several red lights without stopping,” hit a parked car on Adelaide Street, hit a fence on Simcoe Street, and then made its way out of the city, police say.
London police say the OPP were then notified.
Provincial police deployed a tire deflation device on Highbury Avenue near Wilton Grove Road, but London police say the bus kept on going south into Belmont where it finally drove off the road and stopped in a ditch at roughly 4:00 a.m. Saturday.
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The driver of the vehicle was arrested by London police without incident, police said Monday. No injuries were reported.
A London woman, 45, is facing 10 counts, including two counts of theft of a motor vehicle, two counts of failure to stop after an accident, impaired operation exceeding blood alcohol concentration, and break and enter.
A London Transit spokesperson confirmed to Global News via email that the accused in the incident is a former employee of the commission. No further details were provided.
LTC confirmed that it will be launching an internal investigation “in an effort to determine the sequence of events and address any policies or procedures that may need to be amended going forward.”
As for the buses and the garage, the LTC says the first bus sustained “minimal damage” and the second bus is “currently being assessed.” Damage to the facility is pegged at $10,000.
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