The hours pass, the traffic thunders by – and Erling Persson is standing on the side of the road with a flat tire in a fortnight.
– Nothing will happen, the 75-year-old tells VG.
Since then there has been silence around him Spoke to Viji Persson Saturday.
With six flat tires on his car and trailer, he couldn’t take anything further from the parking pocket on the E45 in Varmland, Sweden.
He has been sleeping and eating in a small van stored in Gunnarsbytorp since he drove into a police bunker on October 24.
– I don’t want to do anything until the police put on new tires. But I don’t trust them because they don’t stop me in an honorable way, Persson says.
He had police on wheels for ten miles as he drove from the west toward Sanne, but says he thought the blue lights were a practice in the evening darkness.
– They got information from two policemen that I was drunk but I was sober. And when they don’t run a stop sign, I don’t have to stop.
The 75-year-old believes the police will be able to pass him by and push him aside. Instead, he stopped abruptly and cashily on the European road.
– I didn’t see the mat. It clicked when I was driving, says Persson.
A policeman drove the 75-year-old man and the car with flat tires to a small village 6-7 kilometers south. He has been there ever since.
– Did you ask the police anything?
– No no no. But I’m sitting here until something happens. Persson says it is not me who is responsible for this incident, it is the police who are changing the tyres.
Wrote first Nya Wermlands-Tidinningen About him, then Sweden’s biggest newspaper Afternoonbladet And VG is Norway’s largest newspaper.
– Are there many passers-by?
– No, no one stopped me and talked. I don’t know anyone here, it’s just a forest. The village is small and I don’t know if all the houses are inhabited.
– What plans do you have for the day?
– I will have breakfast, eat in the car. I can’t plan when I’m sitting like this. I was allowed to change clothes on Friday, but had access to a shower.
The man is frustrated in the rain and angry at the police, whom he thinks are lazy and stupid. At regular intervals, he starts the car to warm up his body.
According to SVT Warmland His bright red Opel Combo from 2006 has been banned from driving since February 19. The 75-year-old believes that this cannot be true.
– I don’t know who made the mistake. I have to go to a workshop to fix something with electronics that I don’t have the tools to fix myself.
Erling Persson says he has a trailer full of tools. He has been tinkering with vehicles for over sixty years, repairing cars, tractors and equipment.
– I started driving timber and general cargo to Namsos in 1968. Since then I have been all over Norway. I enjoyed it there, Norwegians are real people, says Persson.
He was originally from Norrland, about 15 miles north of Ostersund. For the past twelve years he has lived in the south of Sweden.
– But the way I’m treated now, I don’t want to live in Warmland.
He keeps his belongings in a warehouse in Nysator, Varmland.
– I should have accessed the mail more often. But first I got to drive a car. Maybe I’ll buy a new one and report the old one to the police.
– Do you have money for that?
– I think I can afford it. I shop according to my wallet, not what the neighborhood is doing. I don’t have good finances, but no debt.
Police spokesman Lars Hedelin says changing tires is usually the responsibility of the car owner.
– If the police forcefully stops a vehicle, it is the vehicle owner’s responsibility, both the tires and the recovery, Hedelin tells Abdanbladet.
Watch Aftonbladet’s interview with Erling Persson from Saturday:
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