A police officer on duty during last summer’s Norway Cup football tournament was stopped and charged with drunk driving while behind the wheel of a police car. A pastor in Fredrikstad has also been convicted of driving under the influence while on his way to conduct confirmation ceremonies at a local church.
Both tested positive for relatively low blood-alcohol levels of around 0.5. In both cases, the offenders had also been drinking the night before and claimed they were unaware that they were still under the influence the morning after.
Newspaper VG reported that the police officer has apologized for the incident and paid a fine of NOK 13,000. He did not lose his driver’s license because his blood-alcohol level was not over the limit of 0.5.
The pastor also apologized, claiming he “only had a few glasses of wine” the night before. He was sentenced to 14 days of a suspended jail term and fined NOK 20,000 but also lost his driver’s license for a year, because his test results were 0.58. State broadcaster NRK reported he is no longer working as a pastor.
newsinenglish.no staff
