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08th Mar 2024

11-year-old boy stopped by police while driving BMW X5 towing caravan along motorway

Nina McLaughlin

An 11-year-old was stopped by police while driving a BMW X5 towing a caravan along the M1.

North Yorkshire Police confirmed that they recovered the vehicle after receiving a call about a stolen caravan.

“We intercepted a BMW towing a suspected stolen caravan yesterday and were staggered to find an 11-year-old boy at the wheel,” North Yorkshire Police wrote.

“At around 3.30pm on 7 March, we received a call that a caravan had been stolen from a caravan holiday site near Thirsk and was being towed away by a black BMW.

“We were able to track the BMW, that was also using cloned registration plates, travelling south on the A1.”

The force said that they stopped the vehicle along the M1 45 minutes after it was reported stolen.

“But nothing prepared us for finding the school-boy sat at the wheel,” police wrote in their statement.

They said that a search of the car found “equipment typically used by suspects to carry out thefts”, including a “selection of vehicle registration plates.”

North Yorkshire police arrested the 11-year-old on suspicion of “theft, burglary, going equipped for theft, and motoring offences including dangerous driving.”

They added that no one was injured in the incident, and the child has been released on conditional bail until further enquiries have been concluded.