8-year-old takes his mother's car on high speed joyride

Berlin - Told the police that he 'just wanted to drive a little bit'.

An eight-year-old boy in Germany stole his parents' car for a 140km/h (87mph) motorway joyride, the police have said.

The child was found on the A44 motorway lay-by early on Wednesday heading towards Dortmund city. He had put the hazard warning lights on and placed a small warning triangle behind the car.

The boy told the police that he "just wanted to drive a little bit", before reportedly bursting into tears.

The child, who had used go-karts and bumper cars before, took the Volkswagen Golf automatic from his home in Soest and headed towards Dortmund at high speed before reportedly feeling unwell 8 km down the road and pulling into a lay-by.

The alarm was raised by his mother at 12.25 am on Wednesday. At around 1.15 am, the mother told the authorities she had found her child at the motorway.

No property or people were hurt during the late night excursion, the police said.