US boy takes truck on 160km joyride

DAMASCUS, Oregon - A 12-year-old US boy had permission to drive the family pickup truck to the end of the driveway to unload rubbish, but he kept going until he was stopped nearly 160km away.

The Clackamas County sheriff's office says it received a call from the boy's mother reporting the boy and the pickup missing from their home in Damascus, Oregon, near Portland.

An alert went out, and the eager young driver was safely stopped by a sheriff's deputy in Lewis County, Washington.

Detective Jim Strovink says the case will be referred to juvenile authorities for possible prosecution of unauthorised use of a motor vehicle and driving without a licence.

- AP