Close shave for many as bus ploughs into shop

CHENNAI: Thirty customers and 14 employees had a miraculous escape, when a Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus plunged into a leading shoe retail shop at Adyar on Sunday. While no injuries were reported, five vehicles were damaged in the incident.The shattered frontage of the Bata India shoe shop, located on First Main Road, Gandhi Nagar, thousands of glass pieces strewn across the entrance, the mangled two-wheelers and the shock writ large on the faces of the employees were testimony to the havoc caused by the rogue MTC bus near the busy traffic signal.Shop manager G V Narasaiah (52), a resident of Alwarpet, told Express that the retail outlet of the leading shoe company was started in Adyar in 1984. “We open at 9.30 am and close at 9 pm daily,” he said.On Sunday, the usual holiday crowd was milling about the store, when at 12.55 pm, MTC bus 47A - a ‘cut service’ proceeding from Adyar Terminus to ICF - came hurtling towards the shop and rammed against the glass frontage, shattering it. The bus then hit the display shelves, five two-wheelers, a car and a power generator before coming to a halt. “There were 30 customers inside the shop at the time, besides 14 staff members,” the manager said. Nobody was injured. Bus driver Prabakaran (35), attached to the Adyar bus depot, told the police that he was trying to negotiate a U-turn near the signal, when the air brake failed and he lost control of the vehicle. Even as the Adyar Traffic Police registered a case and began investigation into the incident, G Karunanidhi from the MTC headquarters was also be seen conducting an inquiry at the scene.