CHENNAI: Miffed over a spat with a bus conductor, a tippler snuck into Tiruvanmiyur bus depot at midnight to drive off in a bus. His mission was almost successful until he collided the MTC vehicle with a concrete mixer truck on the ECR.

L Abraham (33) is a Besant Nagar resident who works in Guduvanchery as a car interior decorator. While travelling to work on Wednesday, Abraham quarrelled with a bus conductor. Later that day, he consumed alcohol and arrived at the Tiruvanmiyur bus depot around 9 pm after work and fell asleep near the depot's entrance.

Around 2 am on Thursday, he got onto a Route 109 bus (Broadway to Kovalam - TN 01 AN 3864) and drove off without authorisation. Destabilised by alcohol, Abraham rammed the bus into a concrete mixer truck near Akkarai checkpost. The truck's driver alerted police immediately.

A police team reached the scene and nabbed Abraham. Finding him intoxicated, they handed him to Tiruvanmiyur police. Abraham narrated the event during the police questioning and was booked for theft.