TTC workers had to bring in special equipment to pull an SUV out of the Queens Quay streetcar tunnel after a motorist drove it all the way into the Union Station streetcar platform.

Sometime early Wednesday, an elderly man driving a GMC Acadia SUV entered the streetcar tunnel on Queens Quay West near Harbour Square, and drove approximately 600 metres through it, mounting his vehicle on a concrete block in the Union Station streetcar platform.

Spokesperson Stuart Green said the driver managed to get past special gates and bollards installed in 2018 to prevent vehicles from entering by following directly behind a streetcar.

Toronto police say they do not believe any other motorist has ever made it that far into the streetcar tunnel before, though many have tried.

TTC officials had earlier said that the gates they installed in 2018 would make it impossible for a vehicle to enter the tunnel.

Before 5 a.m., a wheeled loader entered the tunnel with a special boom attached to it to allow it to pull the SUV out of the tunnel.

Green said the tunnel had to be closed for several hours to allow for the vehicle to be removed.

The driver was taken to Sunnybrook Hospital as a precaution, and was interviewed by officers, police said.

The vehicle was pulled out of the tunnel just after 5 a.m.

Full streetcar service resumed in the area at around 6 a.m.