THE HAGUE: Dutch police said on Monday officers were surprised upon arresting a man in connection with a drunk driving incident over the weekend, when his driver’s licence named him as “Boris Johnson”.

The fake Ukrainian driver’s licence, complete with the former British prime minister’s picture and correct birth date, was “issued” in 2019 and valid until the end of the year 3000.

Police spokesman Thijs Damstra said officers investigated an incident shortly after Sunday midnight when a car crashed into a pole near a bridge in the northern city of Groningen.

The car was abandoned, but police were later told that the driver was standing on the bridge. “The person could not identify himself and refused to undertake a breathalyser test,” Damstra said.

The 35-year-old man, from the small town of Zuidhorn west of Groningen, was arrested and police searched his car. “Inside, police found a fake drivers licence belonging to Boris Johnson,” Damstra said. “Unfortunately for this person, we did not fall for his forgery,” Groningen police said on its Instagram account.

Police could not say where the forged document was made, but public broadcaster NOS and former Russia correspondent Kysia Hekster, in a tweet published by the NOS, said fake driver’s licences could easily be bought in tourist shops in Ukraine.

Damstra added: “As far as I’m aware, the real Mr Boris Johnson was not in the Netherlands at the time.”

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2023