Girl, 11, takes car for spin

An 11-year-old girl told to wait in a car wound up setting off alone on a joyride across some of the poshest suburbs of Auckland.

The girl was waiting in the car outside a youth group meeting on Khyber Pass Rd yesterday afternoon.

The Herald on Sunday was told the girl became bored of waiting, and decided to take the car for a spin.

When the woman looking after the girl emerged from the meeting, she found that the girl and car were gone.

The discovery led to a police emergency call and a broadcast to police in the central Auckland suburbs to be on alert for a young joyrider.

Police Inspector Matt Sillars said the car, an automatic, was taken from Khyber Pass and driven an unknown route to St Johns a distance of about 4km which passes through some of the wealthier Auckland suburbs including Remuera.

"She got bored at a meeting," Sillars said. "She was obviously given the car keys, and she ended up taking the car for a ride."

Police searched for the girl for some time before they received a call from a St Johns Rd resident reporting a young girl struggling to U-turn the car in their driveway.

Another neighbour, who declined to be named, said she saw the girl reversing back and forth in the driveway and hitting the garage door of the house.

The car was a maroon hatchback, she said.

Sillars said there was some minor damage to the garage door and the panels of the car.

The girl was referred to police Youth Aid.