He may have been on a pressing affair of state, but police were not impressed when Slovakia’s deputy prime minister shot past them at 146 mph on an Austrian motorway.
It took five miles for the pursuing officers to get the speeding minister to stop. Pal Csaky was fined €700 on the spot.
Police gave chase yesterday when the minister’s BMW flashed by as they were pulling onto Austria’s key A1 east-west motorway from a rest area near Linz.
The speed limit on that stretch of road is 62 mph.
The minister’s bodyguard paid the fine in cash.
“If he had tried to drive away from us, we would have had to give up our pursuit. It was too dangerous,” police Major Klaus Scherleitneras said.