North Yorkshire Police stopped a car towing a caravan on the M1 – only to find it was being driven by an 11-year-old boy.
The discovery happened after police received a report at 3.30pm yesterday (Thursday) that a caravan had been stolen from a holiday site near Thirsk.
They were told it was towed away by a black BMW.
Police tracked the BMW X5, which was using cloned number plates, south on the A1.
A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson 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.
“A search of the car also revealed equipment typically used by suspects to carry out thefts and a selection of vehicle registration plates.”
The boy was arrested on suspicion of a number of offences including theft, burglary, going equipped for theft, and motoring offences including dangerous driving.
He was questioned and has been released on conditional police bail to allow further enquiries to be carried out.
The owners of the caravan have been told it’s been found.
No one was injured during the incident.