In a bizarre incident, a monkey took control of a bus in Bareilly town of Uttar Pradesh on Monday, putting the vehicle into second gear and taking off before being scared away.

According to a report in an English daily, the comic sequence of events began when the conductor of an Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) bus from Pilibhit left the vehicle at the old roadways station to look for passengers.

With half an hour to go for departure, the driver dozed off in the back, providing the monkey with an opportunity for its mischief.

While the driver reclined on the last row, the simian suddenly appeared and climbed inside the driver's cabin. What's more, it managed to start the vehicle with the key in the ignition. The bus started to move, waking up the driver.

The driver then lunged at the monkey trying to shoo it away. Subsequently, the monkey got scared and shifted the engine into second gear before jumping out of the bus.

Passengers at the bus station were petrified seeing a bus with no driver heading their way, and began to run helter skelter. The driver finally managed to bring the vehicle under control, but not before it had hit two other parked buses.

"Monkeys have become a regular menace at bus stations and workshops, where they often fiddle with vehicles undergoing repair. They have also damaged CCTV cameras at stations. Three years ago we had taken the help of municipal authorities to get rid of them but they have returned," said UPSRTC regional manager SK Sharma to the daily.

The manager added that UPSRTC is holding talks with municipal authorities to hire am agency to catch the monkeys and shift them to an area where they cannot find any such vehicles to drive off in.