The honorary chairman of Czechia’s ruling anti-green and eurosceptic Motorists for Themselves party, Filip Turek, crashed into an ambulance in Prague city centre on July 13.

Pictures widely shared by Czech media show Turek standing next to his black Mercedes jeep and a damaged small Škoda ambulance used for carrying blood and other biological material.

Police tests showed that Turek, who has a well-known record of speeding, was not under the influence of alcohol or any prohibited substance.

“It is simple, I was approaching a green light and unfortunately, I collided with the car coming from above. Because I have a bigger car the smaller one flipped,” the controversy-stricken Czech MP was quoted as saying by online news outlets iDnes.cz and Seznam Zprávy (SZ).

“So now I am continuing with the car in which I had the accident to the Ministry in normal order,” Turek also said, adding that he is “sorry for what happened”, and that it was not possible to prevent the collision at the crossroads which the ambulance had entered through a red light with its sirens on. 

However, the accident sparked an instant wave of online jokes about Turek, who frequently presents himself as a former racer. Social media users called the politician bad racer and a bad driver, noting his poor record in actual races he took part in. 

Other commentators were shocked that Turek appeared to take the accident so lightly after footage later shared by SZ showed the ambulance flipping over and nearly hitting pedestrians. 

Turek is the most visible and controversial politician in the Motorists party, and has faced a public backlash over his collection of Nazi memorabilia and photos of himself raising his arm in a Nazi-like salute.

Last December the country’s liberal President Petr Pavel refused to appoint Turek as the new minister of environment following a scandal over Turek’s racist, sexist and homophobic online comments, but Turek took up a post as cabinet climate envoy shortly after the Motorists took control of the ministry and declared the climate crisis “over”.

Turek was not injured in the accident, which took place at the I. P. Pavlova crossing, while the driver of the ambulance suffered a medium to severe head injury and was conscious when rushed to hospital, Czech Television (CT) reported.

Tram operations were suspended at I. P. Pavlova for almost an hour following the accident, CT also reported.

Spokesperson for the Motol University Hospital and Homolka Hospital Martina Dostálová told CT that biological material carried by the ambulance was “not usable anymore, destroyed, damaged, which means we sent another vehicle immediately for another shipment of these thrombocyte substances to be able to provide it to patients in time”.