Boy who caused chaos on motorbike banned

A 15-year old boy, who raced through the streets of Edinburgh on an £800 stolen motor bike has been remitted to the Children's Panel and disqualified from driving for 27 months.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pled guilty previously at the city’s Sheriff Court to driving a black Honda motorbike, which had been stolen five days earlier, dangerously on August 30 last year. Sentence was deferred until yesterday for a Criminal Justice Report and advice from the Children’s Panel.

The chase began around 3pm when police saw the youth driving the bike in Queensferry Road with a pillion passenger, narrowly avoiding parked cars and driving along the pavement. At 3.20pm a witness saw the bike going through a red traffic light in Gorgie Road. In Westfield Road, an elderly woman crossed the road and the bike had to swerve to avoid her. As the bike approached another busy junction, the boy drove across four lanes, weaving in and out of the traffic, and, as drivers braked to avoid a collision, he mounted a pavement. Approaching another junction, the accused narrowly avoided a group of school children and the chase ended at 4.20 pm when he lost control of the bike. Defence solicitor, Liam Kildare, told Sheriff Frank Crowe that his client and family had been working closely with the Social Work Department. Sheriff Crowe described the incident as “a shocking offence.”