A 27-YEAR-OLD German man faces a charge of drink driving after he was caught riding an electric scooter while under the influence on a motorway.

Police in Cologne said they received numerous calls at around 2:20 am today which reported a man driving an e-scooter on the hard shoulder of the A4.

“The police located the man within a few minutes and put an end to a dangerous situation,” Cologne police said in a statement.

The German news agency DPA reported that the man was still holding a beer when he was pulled over, but a police spokesman told AFP he could not confirm that detail.

The rider told police “he ended up on the motorway by accident”.

A blood test later showed the man had a blood alcohol level of 1.3 promille, more than twice the legal limit for car drivers. He now faces a drunk driving charge.

Germany’s Autobahn motorways are famous for their long stretches without speed limitations, although e-scooters are only allowed to go up to 20 km/ph.

In Ireland, e-scooters are not regulated or defined in legislation, making them illegal to use on Irish roads

But that could change on foot of a recommendation by the Road Safety Authority, which has proposed changes to how the increasingly popular mode of transport is regulated.

© AFP 2019 with reporting from Dominic McGrath.