The thieves are getting younger.

cracking young driver though!

Especially if the stolen car and caravan had caused a major accident on a busy road, possibly maiming and killing others.

But it didn't, that's why I said " cracking young driver"🙂

*Jennifer Eccles*- spot on.

From The Independent today:

"An 11-year-old boy was arrested after police stopped the BMW towing the caravan on Thursday afternoon.

Police searched the car and found equipment typically used by suspects to carry out thefts, and a variety of registration plates.

The boy was arrested on suspicion of offences including theft, burglary, going equipped for theft, and motoring offences including dangerous driving. He was questioned and then released on conditional police bail."

...commendable.
...incredible , takes some doing !
...cracking young driver though !

Really? 😳

It's called Humour 🙂V3ra !

An 11 year old boy driving and towing a caravan that's just unbelievable. What has been going on in his life? he is still a child. Where are his parents or carers? Where are the authorities in this he could have died in an accident on the motorway and possibly killed others at the same time the others being innocent people who were legally entitled to be on the road. It's shocking what is going on in the world lately.

Is this an occasion for the parents to be held responsible?
You don’t learn to drive or tow a caravan without adult input-even if it’s only them allowing him to practise.
Then there’s the contents of the car. If he “didn’t know” then someone is responsible.

Bridie22

Another Bluebelle supporter here, cracking young driver though !

Wonder if he'd still be a " cracking driver", if he'd killed a young family , or anyone. Admiring criminals, the world has gone mad.

Luckily he didn't hurt anybody, im as shocked as all that an 11 year old could do this,and the fact that he didn't hurt anyone is why I made the Humours remarks " cracking driver"!
Please don't make more of my remark than necessary.

I don't understand how he could have hooked up the caravan to the car in the first place. He must have had an adult accomplice..

Bridie22

It's called Humour 🙂V3ra !

It's not remotely funny though is it?
An 11 year old child has been set up to go out and commit a very serious crime.
There could have been awful consequences for himself and other people.
Where are the adults who should be looking after him and keeping him safe?
What a dreadful life.

I think that there must have been adults behind this, preparing the number plates and probably hooking up the caravan. I've seen a documentary in which a young French lad of only 12 drove a tractor on the family farm, so that part doesn't surprise me.

V3ra, maybe you just can't see the funny side of my offhand remark.

pascal30

I don't understand how he could have hooked up the caravan to the car in the first place. He must have had an adult accomplice..

well of course he did! He was the driver of the car though!

I was reminded of the time my friend’s son, aged 14, took the family car out in the middle of the night with his 10-year-old brother as passenger. Luckily his driving was erratic enough for him to be stopped by police and taken back home to his shocked parents.

Nobody had taught him to drive - he just picked it up by observation. He wasn’t charged, but his parents said they were sure that that was because they were so obviously a law-abiding, articulate middle class family from an affluent area. Unfair, but probably true.

Nowhere as bad as the events under discussion, of course, but all the same it reminded me.

The owner saw the caravan being towed away, the boy was not alone stealing it but was alone driving off with it. The police were called (and probably only attended as the owners were on its tail) and they pulled the driver over. The boy was arrested for various offences including Dangerous Driving. He's been released on conditional bail. The owner reported all this on Facebook.

A friend who grew up in a farm could drive from an early age. She was the youngest of 6. Her mother would ask her to drive to the shops.
"But I'm only 15 and can't drive on roads".
"Oh yes, I forgot", mother would reply.

That amused me. This case doesn't.

Years ago we had caravans parked illegally on common land near our house and the kids were driving cars over the common. It's not a difficult skill to learn if they can reach the pedals.

Grammaretto

A friend who grew up in a farm could drive from an early age. She was the youngest of 6. Her mother would ask her to drive to the shops.
"But I'm only 15 and can't drive on roads".
"Oh yes, I forgot", mother would reply.

That amused me. This case doesn't.

One of my nephews had been driving in fields and farm roads for years, booked his test a few days after his 17th birthday, told his mum the day before and passed without any lessons at all. No theory in those day but had read the Highway Code, I didn’t hear of any accidents, my own sons were pretty good too. More recent lads seem to be more accident prone, 2 grandsons have been quite seriously injured in separate crashes.

lemsip

pascal30

I don't understand how he could have hooked up the caravan to the car in the first place. He must have had an adult accomplice..

well of course he did! He was the driver of the car though!

He was the driver but he can hardly be held accountable at the age of 11..

Katie59 an early boyfriend of mine learned on private land and took his test 2 days after his 17th.
I think it is more common than you think.

You’re right some set it as their goal, a big deal at that age, even younger really ambitious youngsters can fly a glider solo at 14 and a powered aircraft at 16, supportive parents of course.
The UKs latest F1 driver 18 yr old Oliver Bearman finished 7 th for Ferrari in the Saudi GP

Oh Bluebelle you are cracking your head against an enormous brick wall on this thread😳 but you have lots of support from myself and others!

Time will tell if it’s travellers or not but it’s very possible from other cases I’ve read about locally.
And since when did Irish travellers become another ‘ethnicity’?
They’re as Irish as anyone else in Ireland.
Or as English as anyone else in England for that matter.
There are Romany groups but by no means all are.

My husband drove cars on private land from being a young teenager, he also passed his test a couple of weeks after his 17th birthday.
However he was never taught or encouraged by his father, brother or uncles to steal vehicles!
This thread was never meant to be about the travelling community just the temerity of the boy involved!