Man, 87, Flees Care Home Down Motorway In Motorised Wheelchair

Man, 87, Flees Care Home In Motorised Wheelchair

An 87-year-old man has staged a dramatic escape from his residential care home by fleeing on his electric wheelchair in the middle of the night.

Raffaele Panicucci sped away from the home in Montemarciano, Italy, under cover of darkness - but was picked up by police two hours later after he was spotted trundling along the motorway. (That's not him in our picture, by the way. That's just a file photo of how it could have looked if he'd tried to overtake a Lotus on a country road. The real Raffaele was travelling far too fast for anyone to take a snap of him.)

So why run away, Raff? "It was full of old people," the octogenarian told the Daily Mail. "I could not stand it any more. I just had to get out of there. If I stayed there any longer, it would have driven me completely crazy."

He went on to complain: "Every day is the same. There is no adventure and I just had to get out and get some space of my own. I may have lost my mobility, but I have not lost my nerve and sense of adventure."

However, Raffaele's great escape came to an abrupt end after motorists reported him to the police. He was returned to the home, tired but unharmed, and says he's now happy to stay there for the time being.

Oh, and rumours that he's roped a couple of his care home friends into helping him dig a tunnel beneath the rug in the day room have been put down to idle speculation...

You know, that's got us thinking about other recent great escapes - like this one...

And, of course, this one...

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