Cambridge homeowners react to Grand River Transit bus hitting their house

Homeowners in Cambridge say they were stunned after a GRT bus driver lost control and drove into their porch. CTV’s Krista Simpson reports.

Cambridge homeowners say they’re stunned and grateful no one was seriously hurt after a bus went off the road and into the porch of their home.

Bob Houghton told CTV News he was working on a German language lesson around 7:15 Wednesday evening when he was startled by a sudden noise.

“My first thought was, ‘Oh, more snow slid off the roof,’ but then it was followed almost immediately by a loud shattering of glass,” Houghton told CTV News.

A Grand River Transit bus had left Franklin Boulevard, hitting the home’s front deck and a trellis.

The trellis went through the window, shattering it dangerously close to Houghton’s head.

“Luckily, I had just pulled the curtains shut, otherwise the glass would have all shattered inward towards me,” Houghton said.

Yvonne Aburrow was sitting on a nearby couch when the impact happened.

“I just stared screaming like, ‘What is going on?’” Aburrow described.

“Then we opened the curtains and saw all the broken glass and then looked out the window and there’s this bus. You’re not supposed to see a bus on your front lawn.”

They’re grateful Houghton had closed the curtains just moments before, sparing him from injury.

“He would have had shards in the back of his head for sure,” said Aburrow.

Houghton was not hurt, other than a small cut on his hand from cleaning up glass afterwards.

Waterloo Regional Police say a driver and two passengers were on the bus. None of them sustained physical injuries.

The house is near the bottom of a steep hill that quickly became treacherously icy from freezing rain on Wednesday evening.

Waterloo Regional Police say the bus driver lost control and went off the road, crashing into the side of the home.

Hours later, the bus remained wedged where it stopped, the roads still icy.

Houghton and Aburrow have lived in the home for more than seven years and say while that section of Franklin Boulevard, near Edward Street, is steep, and a car once skidded onto their front lawn, nothing quite like this has happened before.

They took photos for insurance, cleaned up the mess and covered the broken window with plastic.

Aburrow is grateful the outcome wasn’t much worse, calling it a lucky escape.

“I’m just honestly so relieved that Bob is still with us because that was really, really close.”

Waterloo Regional Police told CTV News no charges were laid and they are not investigating further.