Boy, 11, drove BMW towing suspected stolen caravan on M1

An 11-year-old boy was found behind the wheel of a BMW towing a suspected stolen caravan, police said.

Officers said they were “staggered” when they stopped the child, who was driving on the M1.

North Yorkshire Police was called at around 3.30pm on Thursday after the motorhome was stolen from a holiday park near Thirsk.

A BMW X5 towing the caravan was followed south on the A1 to the M1 at Garforth.

A spokesman for the force said: “Forty-five minutes after the caravan was reported stolen, we stopped the vehicle on the M1 after it left the A1 at Hook Moor Interchange near Garforth.

“But nothing prepared us for finding the schoolboy sat at the wheel.”

Road traffic officer Sgt Paul Cording posted on X: “Even after over 23 years’ service, you come across things that you struggle to comprehend. Like yesterday when some great fast track work from the team identified a recently stolen caravan being towed by a vehicle on false plates, but then to find the driver was only 11 years old.”

The SUV, which came to a stop on the hard shoulder, was fitted with cloned plates.

Police discovered equipment used to carry out the theft and a number of vehicle registration plates.

The boy was arrested on suspicion of theft, burglary, going equipped for theft, and motoring offences including dangerous driving but has been released on conditional bail while enquiries are carried out.

Nobody was injured during the incident.