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TROMSØ

Is this the world’s stupidest car thief?

A car thief has been nabbed by police in Norway after he stole a Saab convertible, almost immediately ran out of petrol, and then called the owner from her own car phone to ask where the fuel card was.

Published: 6 March 2014 18:18 CET
Is this the world's stupidest car thief?
Anne Kristin Korsfur in front of the stolen Saab. Photo Ragnhild Enoksen
The owner,  Anne Kristin Korsfur, promptly went looking for the man, finding him at the spot where he had broken down, and then kept him chatting until the police arrived. 
 
"He was a nice guy, but it was good that the police arrived so quickly and arrested him,"  Korsfur told Norway's Nordlys newspaper. "I'll never yell at my partner when he doesn't get around to filling up the car again: sometimes you want to start the day with an empty tank." 
 
The young man had been staying at the guest house Korsfur runs with her partner Johnny Henriksen, and had managed to snatch the car keys as he brought an empty teacup into their kitchen. 
 
When she arrived at work the next morning, Korsfur spotted a missed call from the mobile phone the couple keep in the car, and, wondering who it could be, rang back. 
 
The man picked up the phone and told her that the car had run out of petrol and that he wanted to know where they kept the card used for paying for fuel. Korsfur pretended he had dialled a wrong number, and then set out to track the man down. 
 
"I guessed that he had driven south, partly because the night before he had asked Johnny how to get from Sørkjosen to Finnsnes, and quite right, I got no further than the turn that goes up Sørkjosfjellet when I saw our car standing by the roadside," Korsfur told the newspaper. "He was wearing a reflective vest, and had the warning triangle set out — he had done everything by the book."
 
Before approaching the man, she called her husband, who called the police. She then parked her car and offered to help the man, who had no idea who she was, having only met her partner the previous night.
 
After calling her son and asking him to bring a jerry can of petrol, Korsfur then chatted to the man for twenty minutes as the police made their way to the scene. 
 
"The situation was so relaxed that I was not in the least bit afraid," she said. "I was about to crack up in laughter the whole time. I had to try really hard to keep a straight face." 
 
It was only when two police officers arrived, that she asked the man to introduce himself to her. He claimed to be her partner, adopting the identity in the car's registration documents. 
 
Then she told him: "I am the person who owns the car you are driving."  
 
The man has been charged with theft and driving without a licence. 

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TROMSØ

North Norway’s polar night is about to begin. Here are the facts you need to know

In late November, the sun will set in Tromsø and won’t be seen again until January.

Published: 21 October 2019 12:20 CEST
North Norway’s polar night is about to begin. Here are the facts you need to know
The Northern Lights during the polar night in Longyearbyen. Photo: bublik_polina/Depositphotos

Other parts of North Norway above the Arctic Circle will see similar months of the annual polar night.

In Longyearbyen on Svalbard, the polar night lasts from the last week of October until mid-February.

Here are all the facts you need to know about the ‘dark time’ above the Arctic Circle in Norway.

The polar night — defined as the period in which the sun is below the horizon 24 hours a day — occurs both north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle (at opposite times of the year).

In the northern hemisphere, the polar night occurs due to the northern part of the earth tilts away from the sun during this time.

The Latin name for the Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis, means ‘red sky at morning in the north’.


Photo: surangastock/Depositphotos

The Northern Lights occur as a result of particles from the sun hitting the earth’s atmosphere, or changes in the magnetosphere caused by solar wind.

Norwegian folklore says you shouldn’t wave at the Northern Lights. Doing so will cause the lights to come and take you away, so the myth goes.

People who live north of the Arctic Circle often find it harder to sleep during the polar night. This is because melatonin, a hormone which helps regulate circadian rhythms, is stimulated by light.


Photo: MitaStockImages/Depositphotos

Darker days mean the body finds it harder to regulate its melatonin levels, which can wreak havoc on sleeping patterns.

Although the olar night is associated with pitch black, it’s not completely dark by definition. In fact, only small areas close to the poles experience complete darkness.

Since ‘night’ is considered to be when the centre of the Sun is below a free horizon, some level of light is often present, particularly when skies are cloudless.

Although many find the long absence of the sun a daunting prospect, others embrace it and even prefer it to its summer opposite, the polar day. Incidentally, the Norwegian term for polar day is fargetid (colour time).

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