A Russian teen who refitted his car to drive backwards has been fined and stripped of his car registration – despite drawing praise from Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

The 18-year-old said he had reversed the driver’s seat on the old Lada model and moved the engine into the boot, in a video posted online.

The video of the car driving backwards down the street, posted by Russian TV station NTV, drew praise from Mr Musk, who wrote in Russian, “Haha awesome.”

And how do you like this, @elonmusk? pic.twitter.com/DhSzqzNGSC

— НТВ (@ntvru) February 11, 2019

However, the teen was stopped by police earlier this week.

He was handed a fine for driving backwards, illegal refitting of a vehicle and driving without insurance.