Tank preparing for parade crashes in Minsk's main street

When you're an armoured tank driver and you're late for a parade, perhaps putting the pedal to the metal in the middle of town isn't a great idea.

The city of Minsk, the capital of the Russia-aligned state of Belarus, was yesterday preparing for an upcoming military parade.

Columns of military vehicles had taken up position and were practising rolling through the city.

Вот так сегодня танк в Минске на полном ходу въехал в столб pic.twitter.com/9O3nULKqXy

— РБ головного мозга (@belamova) June 24, 2017

But one tank seems to have been somewhat out-of-place and behind in time.

So the driver poured on the gas and the tracked vehicle leaped down the slick, wet road in the city's centre.

Social media posts of video and pictures show what happened next.

Hitting the brakes had little effect in slowing the 60-ton beast.

The heavy tank skidded, slewed sideways - and demolished a streetside light pole.

2500 подписей за сутки против проведения военных парадов в Минске! Подпишите:https://t.co/gGM72vaozp pic.twitter.com/nEhpTqgZRB

— РБ головного мозга (@belamova) June 25, 2017

Not to mention gouged the pavement and gutter of the median strip.

Believe it or not, the Russian-made tank itself will need serious fender bending to put it back in shape.

Rollers for its tracks were buckled out of alignment, and several of the reactive-armour blocks, designed to explode outwards as a missile strikes, lining its side were crushed.

It was a tow-away job.