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Have Skateboard, Will Travel

DW staff (dc)July 23, 2004

Germany's autobahns offer convenient cross-country routes, but as one adventurous holidaymaker recently found out, they're best traveled by car.

https://p.dw.com/p/5LfN
Don't try this on the autobahnImage: AP

A broke Swedish holidaymaker shocked German motorists by joining them on the autobahn -- on his skateboard.

"He said he was down to his last two euros and couldn't afford a train ticket," said a police spokesman in the West Palatinate region of southwest Germany. "The man said he didn't think using the autobahn would be a problem."

The 38-year-old said he had been on holiday in the Balkans, and needed to get to Berlin, where he was hoping some friends would lend him the money to get home.

Police stopped him near Winnweiler, which is several hundred kilometers southwest of the German capital. But instead of arresting the man, who was also lugging a heavy backpack and golf clubs, police took him to the nearest autobahn exit where he continued his journey on foot.

Police said it was not clear how far he had travelled by skateboard.