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Whiplash-injured Swede loads crates of drink

The Local Sweden
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Whiplash-injured Swede loads crates of drink

When officers from Försäkringskassan, the Swedish agency that deals with social benefits, did a spot check at a customs ferry control in Oskarshamn, in southern Sweden, they found more than thirty people on some form of invalidity benefit returning from an alcohol run to Germany.

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One such was a woman in her forties, who has been receiving sickness benefits since 2004, when a car crash gave her such severe whiplash problems that she is unable to work.

The woman was driving a car carrying 600 litres of alcohol, where four of the vehicle's six seats had been removed to accommodate the alcohol she had purchased in Germany.

In the car was also a younger man, without a driver’s licence, who had helped her load the liquor at the purchase point.

The car was carrying too much weight and the customs officer asked the driver to unload some of the alcohol.

According to the Försäkringskassan inspectors, the couple then proceeded to unload the car together. The woman claimed it was because the younger man had a “bad back” and that one of these trips had her bedridden for days afterwards due to her condition.

Among the other thirty or so ferry passengers, the inspectors found a woman who was unable to work as she claimed she couldn't leave her apartment due to psychological problems, several on sickness benefits. and some on parental leave benefits, but without the other parent or the child with them.

Not one admitted to having purchased the alcohol for reasons other than personal use.

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