VIENNA (AFP) – On a ski holiday to Austria, remember to bring your boots, your hat and – on the off-chance you might break a leg – your bank card.

A German tourist who injured himself while skiing in the Tyrolean Alps this month said he was asked to swipe his bank card before he could be treated, local radio ORF reported.

“During the ambulance ride, the crew started pushing buttons and then they said: ‘Sorry but we have to charge you 230 euros ($320) now,’” said the 45-year-old holidaymaker.

Austrian emergency services defended the measure, saying it was often difficult to track down payment from foreign tourists once they had returned home.

Now most ambulances are equipped with a machine to take card payments on the spot, they said.

Model to the rescue

SYDNEY (AFP) – An Australian banker caught viewing risque photos of a top model on live TV can keep his job, the bank said, after the beauty backed an Internet campaign to support him.

Macquarie Bank said it had decided not to sack broker David Kiely following an internal review into the incident, in which he was shown clicking on semi-naked pictures of model Miranda Kerr in the background of a news story.

“He will remain an employee of Macquarie,” the bank said in a brief statement.

“Macquarie and the employee apologize for any offence that may have been caused.”

Kerr, a Victoria’s Secret model, had earlier said she would happily sign a petition urging Macquarie not to fire Kiely, who was apparently unaware that a colleague behind him was doing a live interest rates interview when he opened the images.

Video of the gaffe generated hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube and inspired several Facebook pages supporting the banker.

Thief didn't have escape plan

RIVERTON, Wyoming – Police say a man suspected of stealing a bottle of Schnapps from a Wyoming grocery store didn’t have the best escape route planned.

Riverton police say the 26-year-old ran out of the store after grabbing the bottle of booze and a package of cough drops and hid in a nearby building, which happened to be the police station.

Police say the man then ran out of the police station, but not before a dispatcher had spied him on the station’s surveillance camera and alerted officers.