Beatles fans touring Liverpool got more than they bargained for this week when Sir Paul McCartney pulled up alongside their Magical Mystery Tour bus at a set of traffic lights, while simultaneously chatting to fellow Beatle Ringo Starr on FaceTime.
The unexpected encounter took place on Hope Street, where driver Neil Morton had stopped the bus during one of the city’s popular Beatles sightseeing tours.
“It was surreal,” Morton told the BBC. “I had pulled up at the traffic lights on Hope Street when who should I see: Sir Paul with Ringo on FaceTime.”
Passengers on board were initially stunned by the sight of McCartney, before realising McCartney was holding a video call with Starr.
“He waved to us and everybody took photos,” Morton told the BBC. “The passengers could not believe it.”
For tour guide Tony Curley, the moment was made even more memorable by McCartney’s typically Liverpudlian greeting.
“He was saying hello to everyone, but in a Liverpool style. ‘All right, lads. How are you doing?’” Curley told The Times.
The Magical Mystery Tour, which takes visitors around key locations in Beatles history including Penny Lane, Strawberry Field and the former homes of the band’s members, uses a modern recreation of the coach featured in the Beatles’ 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour.
Morton said the passengers initially thought he was joking when he pointed out the former Beatle.
“Once everyone turned around, it was very exciting,” he said.
The driver, who has worked on the tour for the past two years, is no stranger to Beatles fandom. He previously worked at Liverpool’s Cavern Club, where he occasionally crossed paths with McCartney.
The former Beatle was in Liverpool to attend a ceremony at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), the performing arts school he co-founded in 1996. During the event, actor Stephen Graham received a companionship award from McCartney.