Policeman fined over beer crate ticket
A Viennese police officer faces the sack after ordering a parking violator to buy him a crate of beer instead of paying a fine.Judge Irene Mann heard yesterday (Weds) how the 28-year-old officer wrote on the ticket “That costs one beer crate” after spotting a police pennant inside the illegally parked BMW in the city centre of Vienna in April.The officer wrongly assumed that the car owner was a colleague. The man, who explained in court that he hung up the pennant “for fun”, turned up at the next police station with a crate of beer later the same day.The accused officer explained in court: “I thought the parked car belonged to a colleague. I didnt want to harm him or her since it was a rather trivial offence.”The policeman was immediately suspended from work after the incident and fined 7,200 Euros yesterday. He now faces police-internal disciplinary proceedings which could result in a dismissal.Earlier this month, an Upper Austrian policeman was sentenced to one year in jail for raking in thousands of Euros by manipulating traffic fines.The 45-year-old charged speeders the correct amount but put down lower fines when archiving the incidents.Investigations were started after a high-ranking Vöcklabruck district police chief saw his sons speeding ticket and the file documenting the offence at the station.