Austrian finance minister Magnus Brunner stripped of driving licence for speeding

Vienna, January 9

Austria’s conservative Finance Minister Magnus Brunner has been stripped of his driving licence for a month after being caught speeding at the wheel of his ministerial car, his ministry said on Tuesday.

Brunner, 51, was driving the BMW more than 50km near the western town of Dornbirn in his home province of Vorarlberg when police stopped him on Saturday morning, the Finance Ministry said, confirming a report by local newspaper Vorarlberger Nachrichten.

“On his way to a private appointment, Finance Minister Magnus Brunner failed to notice a temporary speed limit,” the ministry said in a statement, declining to say exactly what speed he was driving at.

“The finance minister regrets this incident and apologises for it,” it added.

Although Austrian ministers have drivers to take them to official appointments they are allowed to drive their ministerial cars themselves for private use, the ministry said.

Saturday was a public holiday in Austria.

A one-month licence suspension is the penalty for exceeding the speed limit by more than 50 km/h in Austria, except within towns, where it applies to breaches of more than 40 km/h.

It was not Brunner’s first traffic-related mishap. A year ago he wound up in hospital with a head injury after an accident on an electric scooter in Vienna which he said was caused by him not paying enough attention as he made a turn. Reuters