A Belgian minister arrived at a news conference on a bicycle yesterday to promote cycling, only to find it had been stolen when he left half an hour later.
Ben Weyts, the Minister of Mobility for the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders, unveiled a plan to invest à300-million (R4.3-billion) in cycle lanes until 2019, as part of a wider programme to promote alternative modes of transport.
"We left the bike in a rack at the station and locked it," a spokesman for the minister said. "When we got back half an hour later, it was gone."
While Belgium is a country obsessed with cycling as a sport, cars are the main method of commuting, and the country's roads are some of the most congested in Europe.
The minister had to call his driver to pick him up from the station in Halle. His spokesman said he was hoping police would find the thief on security camera footage.
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