Car Thief, Aged 5

Fri, 19 March 2010 Courtesy of: Sun Online

A five year old boy racer stole his father's giant 4x4 and drove it for more than four miles along country lanes and a dual carriageway before finally crashing into a wall.

Shocked motorists saw the youngster, who is thought to have been too small to reach the pedals, trundling along at low speed in the high powered Mitsubishi Shogun automatic.

Horrified road users, who could only see the top of the boy's head, called police at around 7am as the giant silver-coloured off-roader chugged along at no more than 10mph.

“The boy and other road-users clearly had a lucky escape”

At about the same time the boy's worried father dialled 999 saying he had awoken to find both his car AND his young son missing from his home near Chichester, West Sussex.

The car mad youngster drove along a busy dual carriageway section of the A27 from Tangmere towards Chichester before turning north on the A285.

He then steered his way past the famous Goodwood airfield, which is home to a motor racing track, before turning down a country road called Pook Lane.

The youngster's adventure finally ended when the Shogun, which seats up to seven, hit a brick wall in the village of Lavant, just outside Chichester.

By this time he had bashed into two parked cars, dealt a passing motorist a glancing blow, and was being followed by another concerned driver who had spotted the boy.

When the Shogun, which comes with a 3.2 litre diesel engine, came to rest the male driver following got out and pulled the boy, who was crying, out of the vehicle and called police and an ambulance.

The boy was taken to St Richard's Hospital in Chichester as a precaution but was unhurt and was soon reunited with his worried family.

PC Mark Ryan of Sussex Police Road Policing Unit at Chichester said today "This was a remarkable incident.

"The boy and other road-users clearly had a lucky escape because there's no doubt a serious collision could have happened at any stage."

A West Sussex Police spokesman added "I believe the boy was crying after he had the accident because he was a bit shaken but for a five-year-old he had driven quite well.

"It's a bizarre case and we are not taking action against anyone.

"We were first made aware just after 7am when several drivers called saying they had seen a Mitsubishi Shogun being driven by a small boy on roads east of Chichester.

"At almost the same time a distressed local man reported he had woken up and believed his five-year-old son had driven off a short while beforehand in their car, which is an automatic.

"We believe the car travelled just over four miles from his home address. Several witnesses have spoken of it being driven at a slow speed, but erratically.

"It was first seen by drivers whilst travelling along a short stretch of the A27 between Tangmere and the junction with A285, then up that road to Halnaker and across country to Lavant.

"A short while later the car hit a wall in Pook Lane, Lavant.

"A driver who had been briefly following the car took care of the boy while police and an ambulance were called.

"The boy was taken to hospital purely as a precaution but appears to have been uninjured and was not detained there and he was quickly reunited with his family.

"The car received damage to its nearside but damage to the wall was slight.

"Police have subsequently received reports of three other vehicles, two of which were parked, being damaged by the Shogun along the route, but nobody was injured."