French actor Gérard Dépardieu was in hot water again on Thursday when he tested positive for an alcohol test after a minor scooter accident in Paris.

• Drunk driver in slippers: it was my birthday (15 Oct 12)
• French breathalyzer law takes effect (02 Jul 12)
• Depardieu: I don't like 'arrogant' French (16 Mar 12)

The star was unhurt and no one else was involved in the accident, a police source said.

He crashed the scooter while driving in the posh 17th district in northwestern Paris on the Right Bank, the source said.

When police arrived at the scene and tested him, he showed a blood alcohol level of 1.8 grams per litre, well above the French limit for driving of 0.5.

Depardieu was detained and brought to a police station where he could face misdemeanor charges "after a period of sobering up," the source said.

The actor left the police station on Thursday evening, sources added.

One of France's best-known actors, Dépardieu has cut an increasingly troubled figure in recent years, regularly seeming to be under the influence of alcohol on his public appearances.

In August, the 63-year-old Dépardieu was involved in a road rage incident in Paris's Left Bank.

He allegedly punched a car driver, but argued the motorist was at fault and made him afraid of being knocked off his scooter.

In 2005, he headbutted a photographer taking pictures of him in the Italian city of Florence, and last year he generated global headlines when he urinated in a bottle during a Paris-Dublin flight after being denied access to the toilets because the plane was taking off.

Neither the actor nor his representatives were immediately available for comment on the scooter accident.

NOTE: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that Dépardieu's accident on Thursday occurred in the Left Bank of Paris.