Somewhat inevitably, children are at some point going to be left to their own devices during the long summer holiday. And coincidentally, that’s exactly the time they come up with the most outlandish ways of keeping themselves entertained, including stealing their parents’ car.
At noon this Monday, 18 July, police in Huzhou City of Zhejiang Province received a call from a Mr. Zhang, saying that his children and SUV were missing.
With this knowledge, the police initiated a search for the vehicle’s license number on the nation’s traffic camera network. And they quickly came up trumps, finding the car traveling at 120 kilometres per hour on an expressway. But surprising them the most was the fact the driver was none other than Zhang’s 12-year-old son. Also in the vehicle was the lad’s younger sister.
It later emerged that the children had been left at home alone while their parents were out at work. Bored with nothing to do during the holiday, the boy hit upon the idea of going for a drive and soon found the car key in his mother’s bag.
Something of a driving enthusiast, the boy had previously played a number of driving simulation games and also liked to watch his father while he drove. This had given him the confidence and much of the theoretical knowledge to tackle the real thing.
Intending to just take the car for a little spin, the lad took a wrong turn and ended up on the G25 expressway, heading in the direction of Nanjing.
It was then very soon that the boy’s antics became an inter-province affair. Crossing the border from Zhejiang into our very own Jiangsu Province, the lad continued on until his nerve gave out. The hugely-underage driver exited the expressway at Yixing, having covered a total of more than 100 kilometres.
In cooperation with Jiangsu Police and the boy’s father, police from the family’s home station in Nanxun District of Huzhou City located the car in a car park beside a school near the expressway exit.
Both children were alive and well inside, reports The Paper. An officer spoke with the media outlet, saying, “Cameras revealed that the car was travelling close to the speed limit of 120 kilometres per hour. While it was a little unstable, no danger was present”.
Brother and sister were then sent safely home, whereupon both children and parents found themselves in for a severe bout of criticism and education, courtesy of Huzhou’s finest.