The police in the Rupel zone stopped a car in Boom on Thursday afternoon because the driver was speeding through the streets in a rather sporty manner. During the check, the driver turned out to be a barely 15-year-old boy from Willebroek. It turned out that he and his friends were on a joyride in his father’s car. Just two weeks ago, another underage driver also caused a commotion when, after a joy ride, he crashed into the Carrefour branch in Velodroomstraat. The images of that accident made the rounds on TikTok.
Regional journalist at HLN
“It was around 11.30 am that our teams in Boom had set up a traffic alert at Eikenstraat,” says Joris Van Camp, spokesperson for PZ Rupel. “Two riders from our teams were standing guard there. At that moment, a Peugeot 208, coming from Antwerpsestraat, suddenly turned into Eikenstraat with a rather sporty driving style. The riders naturally decided to chase him.”
The officers tried to pull the car aside, but it drove further onto Spoorweglaan and did not respond. Even when the inspectors turned on their flashing lights and sirens, the driver would not stop for them.
“A little further on, the driver drove into Elzenstraat, which fortunately is a dead end for our officers,” Van Camp continues. So a long chase was not necessary. “The motorcyclists pulled the car aside and spoke to the driver. They then determined that there were four young people in the car. The driver turned out to be a 15-year-old boy from Willebroek.”
No driver’s license, no ID
His three passengers were aged 15 and 16. The driver obviously did not have a driver’s license and did not carry any identification card. “This led to a number of traffic violations, for which a report was of course drawn up. A wheel clamp was placed on the car and the keys were taken away. They were later collected by the driver’s father, who also turned out to be the owner of the vehicle.”
The incident happened about two weeks after another group of minors went joyriding with a car in Boom. Images that the occupants themselves shared on TikTok show how they were laughing and fooling around in the car while the driver drove through the streets at high speed. A few seconds later he lost control of the vehicle at a roundabout in Velodroomstraat and crashed into the Carrefour on the corner. Then the boys took off.