German eight-year-old's 140 kmph Autobahn joyride

The child reached terrifying speeds on an early morning joyride. Photo / Getty Images

An eight-year-old child has been stopped behind the wheel of his parents' car after taking it for a high-speed joyride through Germany.

"I just wanted to do a little bit of driving," the child told police as he welled up with tears.

Police were alerted at around 00:25 local time to be on the look-out for the underage driver leaving the town of Soest.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning the child's mother phoned Dortmund police to tell them that her son had driven off in their family's automatic Volkswagen.

Fortunately the child was found an hour later, alive and well pulled over in a motorway layby. Police say he was found with hazard lights flashing and emergency triangle placed behind the car.

„Ich wollte nur ein bisschen Autofahren.“ sagte in der Nacht ein 8-Jähriger zu unseren Kollegen. Er war von zuhause mit...

Posted by Polizei NRW Soest on Wednesday, 21 August 2019

He stopped on a stretch of the A44 Autobahn heading in the direction of Dortmund.

The eight-year-old said he had stopped on the side of the road after the high-speed caper began to make him feel unwell.

However, not before he had reached a top speed of around 140 kmph.

The child's parents told police this was not completely out of character for the eight-year-old. Their son's hobbies involve driving go-karts on private property.

This journey in the fast lane of the German motorway proved to be a little too ambitious and he was found at around quarter past 1am.

Police reported that there had been "no damage to persons or property."