In the Netherlands, where prostitution is legal but regulated, the government has ruled that it is legal for driving instructors to accept sexual favors in return for driving lessons, Great Britain's
The Telegraph reports.
Students and instructors must be over age 18 – and the ruling is a one-way street: Instructors can ask to be paid with sex, but students cannot offer to pay with sex.
The arrangement is legal, though "undesirable," Transport minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen and Justice minister Ard van der Steur said.
"It's not about offering sexual activities for remuneration, but offering a driving lesson," the ministers said. "It is important that the initiative lies with the driving instructor, and focuses on offering a driving lesson, with the payment provided in sexual acts. When a sexual act offered in lieu of financial payment, that is prostitution."
Internet searches for "a ride for a ride," as the practice is called informally, have been on the rise recently, according to The Telegraph.
Parliament member Gert-Jan Segers of the socially conservative Christian Union party said it should be illegal because most people taking the driving lessons would likely not have escort licenses and would not be reporting their activities for tax purposes.
"The news will be a shot in the arm for the small legion of (mostly male) computer technicians, handymen, and driving instructors who offer their services online in exchange for personal services,"
Dutch News said.
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