Essen (dpa / lnw) – In Essen, a man drove a combine harvester through the evening traffic – until the police stopped him. The huge device with a chain drive like a caterpillar and a width of more than 3.50 meters occupied two lanes on a busy road, a police spokesman explained on Tuesday when asked. “He came from Bottrop and wanted to continue to Mülheim.”

The police had previously reported on the strange incident on social media and posted the corresponding photo. When officials from the traffic service stopped the driver on Monday evening and asked for a permit to drive through public areas, he reacted in amazement: “I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

Not least because the approval for the working machine had already expired in 2013, the further journey was undesirable. Due to its size, however, the combine harvester could not stop in the city, but was escorted by the officials to the nearest field. Both the driver and the entrepreneur are now being investigated, it said.