Google Street View car pureed at Spanish tomato-throwing festival

When Google sent a Street View car into the Tomatina festival the plan was to capture “the magic and colour” of the messy event from all angles, but instead it ended up with footage of tomato-drenched revellers trashing the car.

Google dedicated a special doodle to the 70^th anniversary of the event that is held on the last Wednesday in August in Buñol in eastern Spain.

The local authority said the plan was for the car to travel the route of the Tomatina before the festival began and then to repeat the journey during the pitched battle in which thousands of people hurl tomatoes at each other.

On the return trip dozens of partygoers climbed on to the car, breaking windows and mirrors and damaging the cameras. The car’s rear window was replaced with an Australian flag. Local mayor Rafael Pérez called it an act of vandalism.

Google representatives in Buñol played down the incident, claiming the damage to the car was minor and emphasising the fact that no one was injured.

“We regret that this has got in the way of our intention of celebrating the Tomatina’s 70^th anniversary but we can’t let a small group of people undermine the spirit of the event,” a Google spokesman said, adding that it was not clear yet whether the pictures taken from the car were of any use.

Some 22,000 people from around the world gathered in the small Valencian town to throw 160 tonnes of tomatoes at each other.