German police rescued an 83-year-old man pushing his bicycle in the middle of a motorway after he gave up trying to cycle to Luxembourg to withdraw more than €100,000 from a bank there.

The police in Schweich, near the western town of Trier, said they closed the high-speed A 602 motorway in both directions after the man was spotted pushing his bicycle there.

Police said he told them he wanted to get the money out of his bank account before German tax authorities found out about it. The grand duchy is a preferred banking centre for Germans trying to hide savings from taxation at home.

Police said the man, who had been reported missing on Wednesday, was sent home in a taxi with his bicycle and the motorway was later re-opened. They declined to give any further information about the case.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.