Australia Weather News

When police pulled up to ticket a car on the streets of Montreal, little did they suspect the offending vehicle was a prank made out of snow.

Simon Laprise, a 33-year-old artist and machinist, built the car with snow outside his home on "a beautiful day" earlier this week.

"I decided to do something out of the mountain of snow, to do a little joke to the snow guys, and have fun sculpting a car," he told VICE.

The sculpture was a full-sized replica of a DeLorean DMC-12 — the car model famous for its appearance as the time machine in the Back to the Future films.

"I did the car to have fun expressing my creativity on that beautiful day," he told Buzzfeed.

Mr Laprise said he had only intended to fool the snow removal team with his creation, so getting the attention of police was an added bonus.

In parts of Canada, parking in a snow removal zone when ploughing is scheduled is prohibited.

In a photo that has now gone viral, a lone police officer is seen looking suspiciously at the delicately carved passenger window.

In another, an additional police car with lights flashing is also seen at the scene.

The police took the prank in their stride, writing a note saying "you made our night! Hahahahaha".

Mr Laprise said on his Facebook page that the two police officers also paid him a visit the next morning — not to press charges, but just to figure out the mastermind behind the prank.

The artist said this is not the first car he has sculpted out of snow, and told commenters on his Facebook page that it is "not the last".

Snow ploughs destroyed the sculpture the next morning, local media reported.

Canada has seen colder-than-normal temperatures over the past month, with a record-breaking cold snap hitting the North American continent late last month.