This is one of those true stories so strange it couldn’t happen in a movie—the audience would storm out saying, “That would never happen!” But it did.

Police report that a bus driver stopped at a downtown terminal in Hamilton, Ontario, around 9 p.m. on a Wednesday night. When the driver stepped off for a short break, a 36-year-old man boarded the bus. The man, who had “no fixed address,” didn’t sit on the benches with the waiting passengers. He walked straight to the driver’s seat.

This wasn’t any old bus. It was one of the “articulated” models with a joint in the middle—not something to drive lightly. But police spokesman Trevor McKenna admitted the suspect “did a great job” navigating the downtown route. “There was not a ding on the bus.”

Big bus energy

He must have done a great job–and been insanely confident–if none of the passengers suspected a thing. At one point, he made a wrong turn, and the passengers—assuming he was a substitute driver—corrected him. Late at night, he averaged about 10 passengers at any given time. “He even went as far as to deny someone looking to board with an expired bus pass.” Talk about committing to a bit.

Was this a bizarre bar bet that he obviously won? Was it a “dress for the job you want” situation? Police aren’t sure. They admit there may be “a mental health component.” Let’s not mince words: this was a hijacking and extremely dangerous.

It took moments for police to realize what was happening. “We didn’t want to spook him,” McKenna said. “We didn’t want to make this a tragedy.” So officers contacted Hamilton Street Railway to get the bus’s GPS coordinates and followed “strategically.” They waited at the West 5th Street stop, and when the driver pulled up on schedule, they took him into custody without incident.

The charges: theft over $5,000, possession over $5,000, obstructing police, and driving while prohibited. That last bit means this substitute bus driver had no driver’s license—let alone a commercial one to operate an articulated bus.

“It’s comical but at the same time it’s serious,” McKenna said. “We’re thankful nobody was hurt.”