/ 6 June 2005

‘Skeleton driver’ spooks German police

Police in Germany said on Monday they stopped a vehicle on suspicion that it was being driven by a human skeleton — only to find out that no traffic laws were violated.

The life-sized durable plastic skeleton — wearing only a pair of sunglasses over the eyeball sockets — was, in fact, sitting in the left front seat.

But it was riding in a right-hand drive vehicle, and the actual driver sitting behind the wheel had a valid licence.

And when the 24-year-old flesh-and-blood driver pointed out that his bony companion was duly buckled into a seatbelt, police declined to press charges. — Sapa-DPA