12-year-old German boy drives 200 km to see grandma

On Thursday night, a 12-year-old boy and his friend snatched his parents’ car to drive 200 kilometres to his grandparents’ home without getting into an accident, German media report.

Soon after the boys had left, the parents reported their son and his 13-year-old travel companion missing to the police of Limbach-Frohnau, a town in the eastern German state of Saxony.

The boy had announced the visit to his grandparents beforehand but seemingly couldn’t spend another second without them as he simply drove off to their place in the Bavarian town of Bamberg on Thursday evening, reports the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

On his way he even braved the perils of the Autobahn, the infamous speed limit-free highway system in Germany, where people like to go at breakneck speeds.

But taking the risk paid off: the boy’s parents allowed him to stay with his grandparents overnight when they heard that the children had arrived safely.

“Luckily nothing happened, which is quite unlikely if a kid gets into a motor vehicle and drives for a few kilometres, let alone for 200 kilometres,” police spokesperson Oliver Wurdak told The Local.

And it appears that the boy has a natural talent for driving – throughout his epic adventure no one even reported him to the authorities, Wurdak confirmed.

Because he’s below the age of 14, which is the age of criminal responsibility in Germany, the boy also won’t face legal consequences for his actions.

By Max Bringmann