Schoolboy takes forklift truck on joyride causing £10,000 of damage

A 12-year-old boy who took a forklift truck on a reckless rampage crashed it onto a busy main road before ploughing through a garden centre causing '£10,000 damage'.

CCTV footage of the bizarre incident shows two boys sat in the orange vehicle as it is reversed out of a drive to collide with a parked grey van.

A bout of poor driving sees the truck perform doughnuts leaving black tread marks and then drive through gates out onto the A38 near Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.

One of the boys has been arrested over the incident and appeared in court, receiving a youth rehabilitation order for nine months, three of which will see him having to stay indoors between 8pm and 7am.

His mother was also told to pay compensation of £100 to the garden centre but magistrates did not make her pay any court costs after hearing she was not working and receiving Universal Credit.

Garden centre boss Rachel Gallagher claimed the sentence was 'far too lenient' adding both boys could have been killed and that she has been set back 'at least £10,000' in damage and lost business.

Mrs Gallagher said: 'They went out of here at such speed. They could easily have killed themselves.’

The events occurred just outside Tewkesbury shortly after 9.15pm on July 9 this year and led to the boy, who is now 13, appearing before youth court in Cheltenham.

He was then handed the youth rehabilitation order by magistrates after admitting taking the vehicle without the consent of its owner and driving it dangerously. He also pleaded guilty to having no insurance and no licence.

Neither of the boys in the vehicle can be identified for legal reasons.

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The garden centre’s CCTV footage showed the 12-year-old drive recklessly around the Mythe Road site, crashing into a parked van and a concrete base, spinning around and bursting through gates at the entrance to the business.

It also showed the boys travelled on the forklift truck for a short distance on the A38, which runs alongside the garden centre, before leaving it on farmland.

Prosecuting, Paul Kelly said: ‘It was a joyride. They were riding that vehicle for devilment, we would suggest.

‘They did go on to the A38 and, God forbid, something worse could have happened.’

The boy, whose previous convictions include criminal damage and possessing a bladed article, told the court he hadn’t really thought about what he was doing but later realised it was wrong and he was sorry.

Defending, Nicky Shaw said: ‘The driving was dangerous, incredibly so. He’s clearly got psychological issues and learning difficulties.’

His mother said: ‘I think he’s been let down by the system. I’ve tried to say he doesn’t act like a normal child. Hopefully, he will get some help and medication.’

The magistrates also gave the boy a 10-day activity requirement, disqualified him from driving for 12 months and said he would have to take an extended driving test if he took one when he was old enough to do so.

Mrs Gallagher, a partner in the family-run garden centre, was very unhappy with the court’s sentence.

She said: ‘It’s ridiculous. It’s just an absolute joke.

‘It speaks volumes for the justice system in this country…well there is no justice.’

She added the police were ‘fantastic’ in their handling of the matter but she felt the court had let her down.

The sentence was 'woefully inadequate', she said, and she felt the boy was 'basically getting away with the crime'.

Mrs Gallagher concluded: ‘So a 12-year-old can go out and do this and not get punished?’