Man jailed after stealing bus for late-night joyride

A thief who stole a bus and went on a 10-minute late night drive around a town has been jailed.

Shane Youll caused £2,000 of damage after he crashed the Stagecoach bus into railings in South Tyneside before he was stopped by police.

In video released by Northumbria Police, the uninsured 32-year-old was caught on the on-board cameras calmly manoeuvring the single-decker out of the depot and around roundabouts, occasionally straying across the middle lane of the road.

Just after 1am on January 6, Youll, from Cotswold Terrace, Stanley, County Durham, walked into the Stagecoach depot on Dean Road in South Shields and broke into a bus.

He went on what Northumbria Police called a "joyride around South Tyneside", mounting kerbs and wrecking the door of the bus when he crashed into roadside metal barriers.

Police were alerted when he triggered an alarm at the depot, and officers found him in the bus waiting at traffic lights on Newcastle Road, South Shields.

Northumbria Police said he was jailed by Sunderland magistrates on August 19 for 10 weeks, fined £2,025 and banned from driving for 18 months.

He was charged with taking a motor vehicle without consent, driving with no insurance and driving without a licence.

After the case, Sergeant Nicholas Watt said: "This was a brazen theft but what is more concerning is the nature of Shane Youll's driving.

"He mounted kerbs, drifted all over the road, and crashed into a number of objects on the roadside that significantly damaged the bus.

"Thankfully nobody was injured but there is no doubt that Youll put innocent lives at risk through his manner of driving that night."