The Google Street View car, once something that people would have simply watched roll by while scratching their heads in confusion, has become so ingrained in popular culture that should we ever spot it trundling down our own street many of us would immediately bound in its direction like excited golden retriever in an attempt to get our ugly mugs plastered on the internet for all eternity.

It’s rare, though, to see the the famous car running into trouble with the law.

Spotted by Twitter user @Nagi_224 at an undisclosed location in Japan, it seems that police wanted to have a word with the driver of the Google car. After all, what could possibly be weird about a dude cruising through town taking photos of everyone and everything around him?

https://twitter.com/Nagi_224/status/343996365732474880

Quite what the issue was remains unclear, but a number of theories have already sprung up online, including one that — although a little far fetched — suggested that, in a country where customised cars are quite common, it wouldn’t be hard for someone with a little time and spare cash to kit their car out to look like the real Street View machine and take snaps for (gasp) nefarious purposes.

Others suggested that perhaps the police were more interested in checking that the camera equipment was safely attached. If you ask us, the police were probably just asking the driver the route they were planning on taking so they could call ahead and tell their police pals to get outside and be immortalised on the map of Japan…

Source: Byoukan Sunday, Twitter