Driver reports himself ‘lost’ on train tracks
A motorist in southwestern France may be a late entrant for "understatement of the year", calling police on Thursday night to tell them he was “lost”, after driving drunk on train tracks for nearly two kilometres.
The 30-year-old man went for a night out in the town of Besse in Dordogne, before setting off in the direction of his home in Marmande, in the early hours of Friday morning.
Somewhere along the way, however, he took a spectacularly wrong turn.
According to French radio RTL, police near the town of Villefranche-du-Perigord received a call from an obviously intoxicated man, informing them he was “lost.”
The description turned out to be a major understatement, when the motorist told law enforcement he had been driving for nearly two kilometres – before he realized he was on train tracks.
When emergency services arrived at the scene they found the local man with 1.28 grammes of alcohol in his bloodstream.
The obliviously lucky reveller told officers he only realized his mistake when he felt one side of his vehicle balancing on one of the rails.
The Périgueux-Agen TER line was disrupted on Friday morning as a result of the incident, while agents of rail operator SNCF removed the car from the tracks and repaired damage to the track’s electrical system.
The wandering motorist will appear in court on February 5th, according to RTL.
This isn’t the first time in recent months that an oblivious traveller has been saved from serious danger in France.
Back in June, The Local reported how a young cyclist from California was pulled over by police as he cycled down the hard shoulder of the A20 motorwayin south-western France, while cars and trucks flew past him at speeds of up to 130 km/h.
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The 30-year-old man went for a night out in the town of Besse in Dordogne, before setting off in the direction of his home in Marmande, in the early hours of Friday morning.
Somewhere along the way, however, he took a spectacularly wrong turn.
According to French radio RTL, police near the town of Villefranche-du-Perigord received a call from an obviously intoxicated man, informing them he was “lost.”
The description turned out to be a major understatement, when the motorist told law enforcement he had been driving for nearly two kilometres – before he realized he was on train tracks.
When emergency services arrived at the scene they found the local man with 1.28 grammes of alcohol in his bloodstream.
The obliviously lucky reveller told officers he only realized his mistake when he felt one side of his vehicle balancing on one of the rails.
The Périgueux-Agen TER line was disrupted on Friday morning as a result of the incident, while agents of rail operator SNCF removed the car from the tracks and repaired damage to the track’s electrical system.
The wandering motorist will appear in court on February 5th, according to RTL.
This isn’t the first time in recent months that an oblivious traveller has been saved from serious danger in France.
Back in June, The Local reported how a young cyclist from California was pulled over by police as he cycled down the hard shoulder of the A20 motorwayin south-western France, while cars and trucks flew past him at speeds of up to 130 km/h.
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