NZ driver pulled over for playing 'air bagpipes'

Bagpipes: not safe for playing while driving

New Zealand police were surprised to find a man apparently playing the bagpipes while driving his car in the city of Dunedin, it's reported.

Acting Sergeant Bryce Johnson was conducting a routine check when he noticed a driver with his hands on something other than the steering wheel.

"His fingers were going a million miles an hour. And I'm certain I could see a black-type instrument, which looked like a clarinet," he said, according to the Stuff.co.nz website.

Some mainstream New Zealand reports have the unnamed driver playing the clarinet-like chanter of a set of bagpipes.

But Stuff says the self-confessed piper was only playing an "air guitar" version of the pipes. The police found no chanter or any other musical instrument in the car, the site adds.

Either way, the driver was one of five motorists who got off with a warning during the hour-long check on Crawford Street, while an unlucky eight others received tickets for various offences.

Sergeant Johnson advised the public to resist mobile phones or any other distractions while driving, and to "keep both hands on the wheel at all times".

Dunedin, which is the Scottish Gaelic name for "Edinburgh", welcomes careful drivers

Reporting by Alistair Coleman and Martin Morgan

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