They can put up signs, heck, even build a gate, but the TTC just can't seem to keep confused motorists from driving into the Queen's Quay streetcar tunnel.

A motorist ended up stranded in the tunnel linking Union Station with the waterfront on the night of December 11, marking just the latest case of a problem that has mostly calmed down in the years since the TTC installed new gates to keep cars out.

But motorists are a determined bunch, and one late-night driver learned the hard way that tailing a streetcar can have costly consequences.

A video making the rounds on social media shows the aftermath of a driver following a streetcar into the notorious car-destroying tunnel, where crews can be seen removing a white SUV that had ground to a halt on the streetcar tracks just northeast of the tunnel entrance.

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The TTC reported minutes after the incident that it had halted streetcar service on the 509/510 Harbourfront route between Union Station and the intersection of Queens Quay West and Lower Spadina due to a blocked track, sending out temporary shuttle buses to cover the blocked route.

By 1:13 a.m. the following morning, the car had been removed and service resumed for the 509.

509 Harbourfront Regular service has resumed between Union Station and Queens Quay West at Lower Spadina Ave East Side. https://t.co/rHCdzmAQyx

— TTC Service Alerts (@TTCnotices) December 12, 2023

TTC spokesperson Stuart Green tells blogTO that this incident occurred when a "car snuck in behind a streetcar before either gate went down," noting that this is just the second time a driver has wound up stranded in the tunnel this year.

Green explained that "this resulted in a 102-minute delay to the 509/510 service to Union Station as service turned back at QQ and Spadina."

Such incidents occurred regularly in the years leading up to 2018, when the TTC finally clamped down on the issue with its mostly impenetrable automated gates.