Marc Benker (CSU) has been honorary mayor of Marktschorgast in the Kulmbach district since 2020. The 45-year-old’s main job is a police officer. On Sunday evening there was an unusual special operation – for the mayor and the police officer.
SZ: Mr. Benker, you saved a truck driver from freezing to death. What happened there?
Marc Benker: The man arrived too late on Friday evening at a company in Marktschorgast where he actually wanted to unload a mobile home and then drive on. But because nobody was there anymore, he decided to stay there for the weekend and not unload until Monday.
In his truck?
Yes, the idea was good, but he didn’t reckon with the technical vulnerability of his truck. He failed the service. So the battery failed, then the auxiliary heating broke down and it couldn’t start anymore.
And it was cold at the weekend.
Yes, it was minus 17.5 degrees here from Friday to Saturday, Saturday to Sunday too and Sunday evening was still minus eleven. The man was really shaking when we picked him up.
Why didn’t he go into town and get help?
The man is completely unfamiliar with the area, his company is from North Rhine-Westphalia and he is a Romanian citizen and speaks broken German. Everything came together there. He didn’t have any money either, and then he told us that he hadn’t received any wages for three months. A poor guy.
Instead he spent the second night outside again.
Yes, he then slept in the mobile home that he had loaded onto his truck. But then the tank was empty and it got cold.
Eventually the police came.
I agree. A pedestrian came across the freezing truck driver, whose cell phone battery was also empty. The passer-by then informed the police. And then my colleagues called me on Sunday evening.
You’re not just the mayor.
Exactly, I’m a full-time police officer and my colleagues from Stadtsteinach got in touch with me. That worked out well, we were just at a Christmas party organized by the farmers’ association at our Gasthof Regina and I used the short line to the innkeeper.
You got him a room?
Yeah, we can’t let the guy freeze to death. He doesn’t have any money, so we’ll take care of that as a community. Maybe we can reclaim it from the company, we’ll see. This is now our very own Christmas story. And today a freight forwarder from the district got in touch who wants to cover the costs for the man’s board and lodging.
Apparently there are worse things than being stranded in Marktschorgast.
We already have a great willingness to help. When war broke out in Ukraine, we collected eight tons of relief supplies and drove there. And on Sunday evening the regulars were still sitting in the inn, they picked up the truck driver right away and bought him a beer and a mulled wine. I think he really liked it here with us.
And where is he now?
He’s still there, his truck hasn’t been repaired yet, the order from the company is still missing. But we hope that he can start again later today.
And you?
I’ve just come off the morning shift as a policeman and am going to sleep a little now. Then I have a shift until tomorrow morning at six and then I’ll be mayor again for three days. And if it’s necessary, just in between.