Honk-happy man charged for overusing car horn

A 68-year-old man from Eslöv in southern Sweden took offence at a plain clothes police officer’s double parking and honked his horn continuously until the officer stopped dealing with an on-going robbery and proved his identity.

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The 68-year-old was driving down a central Eslöv street when he spied a vehicle double parked outside a building. The car had its warning blinkers turned on and inside it was the driver talking on the phone, according to local paper Skånska Dagbladet.

The pensioner took offence at this behaviour and despite the fact that the street was wide and he could easily have driven past, he started honking his horn and gesticulating to the man to move his car.

The man in the car, who was a plain clothes police officer, at the time dealing with an on-going robbery, first tried to show his badge through the window.

However, the irate pensioner didn’t accept this, and started to honk his horn ferociously.

The police officer felt obliged to get out of his vehicle and step over to the man’s car, showing his badge. But the pensioner didn’t accept this form of identification either. He was adamant the man must move his double parked car.

According to Skånskan, he also informed the officer that there was no law prohibiting him to honk his horn at leisure.

It wasn’t until a police car turned up and uniformed officers vouched for the man’s identity that the 68-year-old would accept that he was in fact part of the police force.

In interrogation, the man said that he had distrusted the plain clothes officer because “so many bad things happen in our society”, according to the paper.

It is estimated that the total honking time was over a minute, with the longest hoot measuring over 15 seconds.

The man has now been charged by the Lund District Court with wilfully honking his horn longer than deemed necessary.

However, according to the paper, prosecutors have said that he could get away with just a fine of 500 kronor ($70) should he choose to admit his guilt during the trial.

TT/Rebecca Martin
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