WUHAN – A 13-year-old boy in China took his father’s taxi and drove for 10 hours, covering a distance of about 500km, before he was finally stopped by police.

The boy, surnamed Pan, had taken the key to the taxi at around midnight on Oct 23 after an argument, and invited two friends for an adventure, according to a report by Jiupai News, a news portal in Hubei province.

The friends are also teenagers.

They initially drove the taxi around Baoding city in Hebei province and then decided to go to Liaoning province, but were caught by traffic police when they passed a checkpoint on an expressway in Langfang in Hebei. The officers thought the driver and passengers looked too young to be driving, and then confirmed that they were teenagers.

Police also learnt that Pan’s father is a taxi driver, and Pan often observed his father driving from the passenger seat, gradually learning how to operate the vehicle.

Although his father strictly prohibited him from driving any motor vehicles, Pan had previously secretly driven his father’s taxi on outings, according to the report.

The police told the boy’s parents to monitor him more closely and prevent him from engaging in risky activities. CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK