Tower Bridge begins opening beneath a London double-decker. Driver Albert Gunter decides that stopping is more dangerous than continuing—so the bus crosses the widening gap.
The bridge was opening. The bus was already on it.
On Tuesday night, 30 December 1952, Albert Gunter was driving a route 78 double-decker across Tower Bridge toward Dulwich.
He had made the crossing hundreds of times. Everything appeared normal until the movable road section beneath the bus began to rise.
Tower Bridge was opening for river traffic.
Road vehicles were normally stopped before a bridge lift. Traffic lights, handbells and gates were supposed to keep them away from the moving bascules. On this occasion, the warning procedure had failed and Gunter was already committed to the crossing.
Stopping presented another danger. As the northern bascule continued rising, the bus might slide backward. Gunter decided that continuing was the safer option.
He accelerated.
Travelling at only about 12 miles per hour, the double-decker crossed the widening space and landed heavily on the southern bascule, which had not yet begun to rise.
The bus made it across.
Its occupants were taken to hospital as a precaution. Contemporary reporting identifies conductor Alfred Barton as the person who suffered the most serious injury: a broken leg. No one was killed.
Accounts preserved by Tower Bridge describe the landing differently. The superintendent engineer referred to a drop of about three feet; Gunter described a five-to-six-foot crash onto the stationary half. The exact measurement is therefore less secure than the event itself.
What is not disputed is Gunter's decision. He later explained that he had to keep moving or risk the bus going into the river.
London Transport rewarded his quick action with £10 and a day off.
Asked what he would do with the money, Gunter reportedly divided it with admirable precision:
five pounds for himself and five for his wife.
Tower Bridge had been designed to serve ships and road traffic. On 30 December 1952, both functions briefly attempted to happen at once.
The bridge started opening.
The bus driver decided to finish crossing anyway.
A London double-decker found itself on Tower Bridge while the bridge was opening, and the driver's emergency solution was to accelerate across the widening space.
Tower Bridge opened for river traffic. Albert Gunter declined to wait.