The owner of a ‘stolen’ caravan that was recovered by police who discovered an 11-year-old boy towing it up the M1 for nearly 40 miles has told of her shock as she watched it being driven away from a caravan park by a BMW X5.
Janine Forth took to Facebook to reveal that the caravan belonged to her as she claimed she returned to the site just in time to see it being hitched up to the vehicle and that the thieves removed its tracking device.
The boy has been arrested after North Yorkshire Police stopped the vehicle, which costs upwards of £67,625 and was fitted with cloned registration plates, after a caravan theft was reported to the force.
Ms Forth wrote: ‘We arrived at the caravan site just as they had hitched it up and were driving away with it.
‘If it [hadn’t] been for quick thinking and the amazing response from the police, god knows what would have happened.’
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Officers from North Yorkshire Police stopped the vehicle after a caravan theft was reported to the force, and found the schoolboy inside
She added the caravan had ‘all the up to date security’, which was fortunate as she claimed ‘the first thing they did when they broke into it was wreck the front end to get the tracker out’.
‘All I can say is that for those who leave their pets in their caravan whilst they go out, please DON’T! Thank god ours was with us safe,’ she said.
Ms Forth later said the boy was not alone when the theft took place.
A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said that at around 3.30pm yesterday they got a call about the theft from a holiday site near Thirsk and were informed it was being towed away by a black BMW.
The added: ‘We were able to track the BMW, that was also using cloned registration plates, travelling south on the A1.
‘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.’
It is thought that after travelling on the A1, the boy joined the M1 at Junction 48.
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 North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said no-one was injured during the incident.
They added: ‘Thanks to the quick work of our skilled roads policing officers, our control room and intelligence team working in the background, the rightful owners have been updated that their caravan had been found.’
The boy was stopped after he left the A1 and began driving up the M1 at Hook Moor Interchange Junction
Taking to Twitter, Sergeant Paul Cording said he ‘struggled to comprehend’ what he found when the car was pulled over, despite having 23 years of service in the police.
Sergeant Cording said: ‘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!’
Social media users were left flabbergasted at the news, with one writing: ‘At that age I was chucking my Action Man out of my bedroom window with a carrier bag for a parachute.’
Another said: ‘What a lad! I bought a caravan age 14 but I paid someone to tow it home for me, now I’m just really disappointed in myself’.
Another joked: ‘Mum, that’s the final straw! I’m taking the Beemer and the caravan to live in the country. *Slams door* BYE!’
The force said it has seen an increase in caravan thefts in the region recently.
It recommends all owners take measures to try and deter thieves, such as installing CCTV, fitting alarms and tracking devices, and taking good quality photos of their vehicle to help it be identified by police if it is stolen.