A passenger clings to a German high-speed train after a smoke break gone wrong

A fare-evading passenger on a German high-speed train ended up clinging to the outside as it pulled out of a station before he was ready to board, police said.

A 40-year-old man boarded an ICE train in Munich without a valid ticket and wanted to smoke at the station in Ingolstadt.

But he lingered too long over his cigarette and the train doors closed, leaving him with the prospect of being stranded.

He then jumped onto a bracket between two carriages and held on to the cables as the train moved towards Nuremberg at speeds of up to 282 km/h (175 mph) until federal police stopped him about 30 km away.

Witnesses alerted officials and they contacted the driver of the train, which made an unscheduled stop in Kinding in Upper Bavaria. The intercity express traveled six hours to the city of Lübeck in the north of the country.

The Hungarian man told police he left his luggage on the train during a cigarette break and didn’t want to part with it.

He was “surprisingly” unharmed after his daring ride, a police spokesman said.

“A state police officer who happened to be traveling with the train found the 40-year-old Hungarian ‘passenger’ and brought him onto the train,” the spokesman said, adding that he was handed over to federal police at Nuremberg Central Station.

Now the man is being investigated for fraud with benefits.

He is also expected to be charged with “an act that interferes with work”, which qualifies as an administrative offence.

Federal police have warned the public not to risk their lives on German trains.