Cop patrolled 22 years without driver's license

Criminal charges have been filed against a policeman in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt who allegedly drove patrol cars for more than 20 years without a proper driver's license, officials have revealed.

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According to the regional Volksstimme newspaper, the 22-year-old officer in Magdeburg apparently believed that a license allowing him to drive a tractor and motorcycle sufficed for police cars too.

He was discovered while trying to renew his certification recently, the newspaper reported. 

A police spokesman explained that the officer had joined the force just before the reunification of Germany in 1990. 

Because most police patrols in communist East Germany were done on foot, apparently no-one ever thought to check whether he had a proper licence, even when he began driving. 



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