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Berlin senior nabbed cruising autobahn in wheelchair

German police stopped a 96-year-old wheelchair driver who left his retirement home and took a Berlin highway to pick up flowers for his apartment, tabloid daily B.Z. reported on Friday.

Berlin senior nabbed cruising autobahn in wheelchair
Photo: DPA

The pensioner Ludwig M. went rolling down the Berlin highway in his “Nevada”-model electric wheelchair, which travels at a top-speed of 15 kilometres per hour, the paper reported. He travelled more than 4 kilometres over cobblestones and asphalt in heavy traffic to reach the flower shop on Tuesday, but ended up on the autobahn when he made a wrong turn on his way home.

“I just wanted to get some flowers for my apartment,” he told B.Z.. “But i didn’t want to take the Autobahn.”

Police stopped Ludwig M. around 2 pm as he made his way back home with flowers after he realized he’d taken a wrong turn and tried to negotiate his wheelchair between cars stuck in thick traffic before ending up on a highway to Königs Wusterhausen in the neighbouring German state of Brandenburg.

“I wanted to take the next exit back home,” he told B.Z.. “That’s what I told the police and they took me home without writing a ticket.”

And just in time for his afternoon snack, the paper reported.