A respectable-looking hitchhiker is back on the roads in France, reports The Times.
He is Swiss, aged about 70, well-dressed and a cultivated conversationalist. His sob stories are convincing. Sometimes he says that he is a retired doctor, on other occasions that he is a businessman. He often claims to be ill, and invariably explains that he is penniless following a robbery and struggling to get home.
Hundreds, possibly thousands of drivers, have taken pity on him over the years, lending him a few dozen or even a few hundred euros to help him on his way. He always promises either to pay the money back or send a present — often Swiss chocolates — as a token of gratitude. Neither the money nor the chocolates ever seem to materialise.
Max le Suisse (Max the Swiss), as he has been nicknamed, enjoyed something approaching cult status in France in his heyday a decade or so ago, with a blog dedicated to his exploits and media outlets unsure whether to be scandalised or admirative. Police have identified him as Matteo Schaub from Switzerland.
It had been assumed that he had since retired.
He has not.