London bus narrowly avoids disaster by jumping Tower Bridge in a daring move.

London buses safely made their way across the bridge, but one particular incident stands out among all the other interesting facts about London's beloved public transportation. It almost sounds too unbelievable to be true. On a chilly day, just after Christmas in 1952, a London bus managed to leap across the opening of Tower Bridge's road section while it was being raised.

In today's world, such an event might be dismissed as a mere publicity stunt. However, for bus driver Albert Gunter, it was a matter of life and death. As his number 78 bus was heading north on the bridge's southern bascule, he suddenly found himself facing a terrifying situation. The road in front of him appeared to be disappearing as the bridge began to rise. Mr Gunter later recounted, "It seemed as though the roadway in front of me was falling away."

Back then, the proper protocol was for a gateman to ring a warning bell to signal that the bridge was clear, followed by another watchman giving the order to raise it. However, on that fateful day, the system failed, leaving Mr Gunter with a difficult decision to make. He could either bring the bus to a stop and hope someone would notice before it started slipping backward, or he could push forward. "I realized that the part we were on was rising. It was horrifying," Mr Gunter shared in an interview shortly after the incident. "I felt we had to keep on or we might be flung into the river. So I accelerated."

Thanks to his quick thinking and bravery, the bus successfully reached the northern bascule, despite only reaching a speed of 12mph. The latest news from London includes a plan to build a tunnel that could connect the city to New York for a whopping £15 trillion. Meanwhile, the iconic Regency Cafe, where a Hollywood movie was filmed, is up for sale for £170,000. And just when you thought your daily commute couldn't get any worse, a man's strange seat choice on a packed train made the experience even more hellish.

If you want to stay updated on all the latest news from the capital, be sure to visit Metro's London news hub. Going back to the incredible bus jump, it's worth noting that the horizontal gap wasn't very wide at the time, as the northern bascule had not yet started to rise. However, the vertical drop was still a daunting six feet. While twelve of the twenty passengers suffered minor injuries, Mr Gunter himself broke his leg. Remarkably, the bus only sustained a broken suspension spring.

One of the passengers, a young boy named Peter Dunn, admitted that he hadn't even noticed anything was wrong until he heard a loud crash and was thrown to the floor. According to a testimonial published by the City Bridge Foundation, Mr Gunter calmly reassured the bewildered passengers by explaining that his experience as a tank driver during the war gave him the confidence to make the jump. As a reward for his bravery, Mr Gunter was given a day off and £10. When asked how he planned to use the money, he simply replied, "Five for me, and five for the missus." Truly a hero in every sense of the word.

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