6yr 'driver' lands parents in China police station

A couple from central China who shared a video of their six-year-old daughter driving the family car on a public road ended up being given a dressing down by the police, local media reported.

In the footage, the child can be seen sitting on her mother's lap steering the vehicle through a village in Xianning, Hubei province, with other cars on the road, The Beijing News reported.

The girl is only just able to see over the top of the steering wheel, but her father is heard encouraging her. When the car reaches a bridge and the child gets nervous, he tells her to slow down and drive on.

"As you can drive on a village road, you are totally able to drive on the highway. You're amazing," he says.

The local police, however, did not think the parents' actions were amazing, and after seeing the video online, tracked them down and took them in for questioning.

The girl's mother, surnamed Ge, said she had been driving the car when her daughter crawled into her lap. Her husband, Yu, then suggested the child be allowed to drive for a while.

Ge said the girl was only in charge of the steering for about a minute.

"I feel regret," the mother said.

Yu said he did not realise that after sharing the footage with his relatives it would be shared so widely online.

"I thought it was fun so I shot the video and shared it with our family. I didn't expect the video would be further distributed and get such a negative response."

As well as being reprimanded by police, the couple were fined 2,000 yuan (US$290) and Ge had her driving licence suspended, the report said.

Copyright: Asia News Network/ The Star Online