Ben Hana, aka Blanket Man, and the inaugural Wellingtonista Wellingtonian of the Year, has been ordered to stay out of bus lanes, after complaints that he was sitting in the middle of Dixon St, forcing buses to steer around him.

Blanket Man remains adamant he will not obey the court order, claiming that the bus lanes and adjoining gutters (where he also spends a fair amount of time) are part of Aotearoa, and that, to quote him: “I represent the whanau of Aotearoa”.

This case follows another brush with the law in September, when Ben was cited for drink-driving. His defense that time was equally inventive, this time claiming that the vehicle he was driving was not a car but a “waka”, and thus he was not bound by normal road rules. Not surprisingly he lost the case, but not the war, as his punishment of community service was unable to be enforced, as he had no suitable footwear to complete the work in.

[hat-tip: somewhere along the way…]