Dutch police who arrested a man on suspicion of drink driving discovered he had a driving licence naming him as “Boris Johnson”.
The fake Ukrainian document featured a picture of the former prime minister, as well as his correct birthdate of 19 June 1964.
However it is valid until December in the year 3000. A police spokesman said a car crashed into a pole near a bridge in the northern city of Groningen shortly after midnight on Sunday. Officers found the car abandoned but later discovered the driver standing on the Emma Bridge. “The person could not identify himself and refused to undertake a breathalyser test,” police spokesman Thijs Damstra told the AFP news agency.
“Inside, police found a fake driver’s licence belonging to Boris Johnson. “As far as I’m aware, the real Boris Johnson was not in the Netherlands at the time.”
On Instagram, the police force added: “Unfortunately for the person, we did not fall for this counterfeit.” The 35-year-old man who was arrested is reportedly from the town of Zuidhorn, west of Groningen. It was unclear whether the Boris Johnson impersonator also holds Ukrainian nationality. A former Russia correspondent working for the Dutch public broadcaster NOS said such fake licences could be bought in tourist shops in Ukraine. “I have [seen] them from [former German chancellor Angela] Merkel and [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy, among others,” Kysia Hekster tweeted. —Agencies
