Young man (16) ‘borrows’ car from sleeping uncle, flees from Wodca campaign and gets stuck in the mud (Mechelen)

The police conducted alcohol and drug checks at various locations in the region last Friday night. In Willebroek, a young man barely 16 years old fled from a check. It turned out that he had taken his sleeping uncle’s car for a night drive. However, the car got stuck in the mud.

Of the 575 motorists who had to pull over for a check, eighteen were under the influence. Sixteen of them had drunk too much, one was driving under the influence of drugs and one had drunk too much and also used drugs.

On the Dendermondsesteenweg in Willebroek, the police wanted to pull over a car whose driver looked very young. “But the driver had little desire to stop and accelerated. He rode right next to us Vodca cart by taking a bend at much too high a speed,” explains police spokesman Dirk Van de Sande. “The driver continued in the direction of Fort Breendonk. What he did not know, however, was that the street there came to a dead end and turned into a muddy cart track. He drove into it at high speed and became stuck in the mud on the left side up to the axles of the car.”

When police asked the driver to identify himself, he initially refused. “He could not show us an identity card or driver’s license. After some searches in our files, the young man decided to change his mind. He had only been 16 for a few months and said he had ‘borrowed’ the car from his uncle. He knew nothing and was sleeping. The owner arrived on the scene and made it clear that he was not pleased with the teenager’s behavior. The car had to be towed away. It was not yet clear on Friday night whether the vehicle was damaged at the bottom during the crazy ride.”

Whiskey

Due to the young age of the driver, his driver’s license could not be revoked. That happened to six other motorists. For example, two drivers tested positive for drug use. One of them had also had too much to drink.

Another driver turned out to have 2.3 per mille of alcohol in her blood. A man who was a passenger in the woman’s car was also clearly over his tea water. “His girlfriend stated that he had drunk quite a bit of whisky. At that time, the man in question was of course not punishable because he was not behind the wheel. But after the inspection, our people suddenly saw the car in question driving backwards behind a bend. During a check it turned out that the man had gotten behind the wheel.”

The man initially refused to take a breath test, but eventually did so and was also found to have a blood alcohol content of 2.3 per mille. His driver’s license was also revoked for fifteen days.

Two other drivers who had looked too deeply into the glass also lost their driving license for fifteen days. Four drivers were banned from driving for six hours, eight others for three hours.

A 23-year-old man from Brussels was also arrested during the action. He drove around without ever getting a driver’s license. Two drivers with a provisional license were also stopped because they were not allowed to get behind the wheel on a weekend night.