After a closure for trackworks on London Road, Manchester Metrolink probably hoped that Tuesday 9th July would be a smooth day with a full service being able to operate once again following the previous split meaning the Ashton line only had a shuttle to Piccadilly with nothing able to run from there to Piccadilly Gardens. But of course that didn’t happen with a car managing to find itself where it shouldn’t.
This time the car in question attempted to follow a tram and incredibly this was from London Road into the Piccadilly Station undercroft. With London Road running straight past the entrance to the undercroft its not quite known why the motorist fancied turning into the undercroft as it followed a tram but that is exactly what it managed to do.
And obviously as it did that it become stuck requiring Police assistance to be moved and thus causing delays to the tram service.
No injuries were reported and the Police didn’t make any arrests.
The incident was first reported at 0940 and services were back running within a couple of hours.
I cannot understand why “driving without due care and attention” isn’t a standard penalty for incursions such as this. Vehicle drivers need to know that the service disruption and the subsequent financial costs need to be taken into account.