- A 13-year-old stole his family’s van for a 70 mph midnight drive.
- Police stopped him and charged him for driving without insurance.
- The court issued six penalty points on a future driving license.
Plenty of kids get grounded for sneaking out at night, though most of them aren’t sneaking around in the family camper at 70 mph (115 kmh). But one 13-year-old British boy got more than grounded after he was stopped by cops. He had his future driving license slapped with penalty points that’ll come back to haunt him when he’s old enough to use it.
Also: 11-Year-Old Fleeing From Police Flips Minivan At 60 MPH
The joyride happened around 1.50 am on a four-lane highway in Dorset, near England’s south coast. Other motorists spotted the silver VW camper being driven by someone who clearly didn’t look old enough to shave, let alone drive, and definitely not at 70 mph.
According to reports from the court case, the driving itself wasn’t erratic, and when the police car latched on to his tail, the boy – who can’t legally be named due to his age – obligingly pulled to the shoulder without the cops having to switch on the blues.
Not his first rodeo
In court, the teenager admitted it wasn’t the first time he had taken the 2.5-liter campervan out, which probably explains why his driving was better than that of some legal UK drivers. And when asked why he did it, he said he wasn’t sure, which is probably the most honest teenage answer ever recorded. He did add that he was sorry and promised he would not do it again.
The British judge wasn’t amused but also didn’t break into a fiery rage. The kid received a 12 month conditional discharge and his parents were ordered to pay court costs amounting to £105 ($143).
Future insurance sting
The kicker though, is the six penalty points he was given that will sit waiting for him on a future licence. They’ll make the already financially painful act of insuring a car as a young driver even harder to bare.
In the UK you can apply for a provisional licence at 15 years and nine months so that you can have all the paperwork ready to ride a 50 cc scooter at 16. But you can’t legally drive a car until 17.
This lad now has a head start on the wrong kind of driving record, and when he does eventually start legally learning England may have adopted the same graduated license scheme just announced in Northern Ireland.
But he’ll have plenty to keep him busy until then. His father reportedly told the court the boy would be washing cars for the next year to pay off his debt, The Guardian reports.
