A man in the central Russian city of Kirov faces up to five years in jail after driving away a trolleybus whose driver had ducked into a grocery store, police said on Friday.
The man, whose name was not given, was drunk when he boarded the Number 1 Trolleybus at its last stop as he was heading home late on May 2.
“I got on and started waiting for the trolleybus to go. When it didn’t, I decided to drive it myself. I went to the driver’s seat and pressed the pedal,” he said the following day, when the effects of drink had worn off, according to a statement by the regional interior ministry.
The vehicle veered off the road and came to rest a block away from the stop, after losing power when its trolley poles came off the overhead electricity cables.
The driver and conductor returned to the trolleybus and held the man until police arrived.
No one was hurt in the incident.