17 year old not passed test - took my car out at 1am in the morning

[ThisBlueQuail]

My 17 year old son who has had 2 driving lessons took my car out at 1am in the morning - would you stop driving lessons?

Id stop the lessons. Hes irresponsible. I wouldnt trust him with a vehicle that could kill someone. I'd also be very clear .... touch my car again and I'll report you to the police myself.

Thank you @OpalPeer.

He has committed a crime. I am amazed how
many PPs would allow him to continue driving lessons.

One of my dear friends has a beautiful portrait of her son hanging on her wall. He was killed at 18, by a teen drink driver.

If he had been caught he would have been banned. What right do parents have to disregard this and allow him to continue to learn to drive.

Absolutely stop the lessons. It absolutely fits the (serious) crime. I presume he wants to drive, which is why he took the car. If you have a license and commit a motoring offence, the consequence is that you are not allowed to drive. I would 100% stop the lessons, and no lifts either. He can get the bus. It doesn't have to be forever, but enough time that the message sinks in. I'd set it at 6 months to a year. I also doubt its the first time he's done it!

No, it would be Taking without the owner's consent (TWOC), punishable by up to 26 weeks' imprisonment: see https://sentencingcouncil.org.uk/guidelines/vehicle-taking-without-consent-revised-2017/. Based on what the OP's said, this could be a category 2 offence, so he would be looking at community service rather than prison.

He'd also probably be disqualified and basically uninsurable for the foreseeable, which seems to me to be completely right.

I've no doubt that a police officer who has dealt with RTCs will be aware of that, and I'm sure they are using 'theft' instead of more technical language that some people won't understand. I don't see what you gain from being a smartarse.

S143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 makes it an offence to permit uninsured driving of your car. Obviously this was without permission but it’s not a situation you would want with the police.

Are the lessons a luxury to his current lifestyle ie: he becomes less reliant on good public transport ?

or

An absolute necessity in a location with poor public transport, where you have to give him a lot of lifts?

If “luxury”, stop the lessons for now, Give him a year to grow up and earn some money towards lessons.

If necessity, I’d carry on with lesson, for my own sake, , but find alternative consequences.

So he can run my kids over. Cheers for that.

He should be off the road, ideally for ever.

Yes 100%. A very similar incident happened in my local community recently and 2 people were killed 😢

Absolutely stop paying for driving lessons he will have to get a job and pay for his own it might make him grow up for a bit. There are some soft as shit parents on this site.

Are the lessons an absolute necessity in a location with poor public transport, where you have to give him a lot of lifts?

In that case, he could have lifts to school/college and work and nowhere else. He could get a bike or a moped.

And doing chores and stopping his pocket money??? He's seventeen, not seven!

He needs to feel real consequences.
It may still turn out that he was picked up on a camera somewhere doing something he shouldn't and op will be hearing from the police.

Yes. And sorry to be this person but sit him down and google all the people who’ve taken their parents cars out and not lived to tell the tale (our county has a horrific road death rate over the last few years- nearly all 17-25 year olds. It’s terrifying)

Yes! oh my god OP, they could have killed someone!

Actually I wouldn’t.
Clearly having next to no driving lessons didn’t stop him. So I would much prefer him knowing how to drive than not! Fur himself and fircanyine eise on the road/pavements.

I would hide the keys so it doesn’t happen again.

And more importantly, I’d dig out why on Earth he was doing at 1.00am that required a car. I imagine you wouldn’t have agreed to him walking around on his own either.
Find the root cause first and foremost. Then you’ll be able to decide what’s tge best answer.

He wouldn't be getting lessons paid for by me until he can prove he has the maturity to be on the road. When he eventually does learn, I would make him fund his own car and insurance - I find that kids appreciate the things they have to work for and buy themselves far more than the cars their parents buy for them!

I wouldn't call the police on my own son for this - it was a really stupid thing to do and I'd be dealing with it myself. Hopefully you won't get a speeding fine through the post in a couple of weeks.

OMG my nieces friend did that a few years ago and killed 3 of his friends, he’s now in jail. You need to tear him a new arsehole!

Well that’s not going to happen is it?

Even he had been caught he might have been given a driving ban of a few years. If that.

...and would then be effectively uninsurable for a decade. Not forever but the best we could hope for.

i’d stop all driving lessons and I’d inform the police that he was driving without a licence. He could have fucking killed someone!

I’d be calling the police, not just stopping the lessons.

My 12 year old has had 6 young driver lessons (full control of a manual car). Not even he’s that bloody stupid or irresponsible to take my car out.

Perhaps, but my experience is that often, police officers are unfamiliar with the legal detail. And it's not being a smartass to require accuracy when posting in relation to the law. It's bloody important, otherwise you are perpetuating misunderstandings, myths, and untruths, amongst mumsnet readers whom, because the person posting purports to be a police officer, they may believe.

You're wrong btw. What he's done counts as TWOC (taking without consent).

Unless he was somehow coerced, that's pretty much mandatory community service, as well as a driving ban. That's a 'proper' criminal record so effectively destroying his FE and professional employment options.

DDs school friend did this 12 years ago when they were in sixth form. He was caught by the police, as a fresh faced young man, driving in a nice car in the early hours of the morning, a massive red flag. He got banned for a significant length of time before he could even begin to learn to drive and then insurance wouldn’t touch him for years. Perhaps point this out to him as well as stopping the lessons until he can afford them himself.

Just what I was going to say.

He needs potential consequences spelt out in capitals, and I’d certainly stop his lessons for a few months, telling him he’s clearly not yet old enough to be responsible.

Plus I’d be hiding my car keys in future.

Next, he will be driving under the influence of laughing gas; like the teens around my way.