Moment joyriding teens are stopped on M6: Boy, 16, is arrested after driving three friends for 50 miles along motorway in untaxed car he bought for £250 hours earlier

By MARK DUELL, DEPUTY CHIEF REPORTER (DIGITAL) Published: 00:02, 25 August 2026 | Updated: 00:02, 25 August 2026 This is the extraordinary moment stunned police officers pulled over a car on the motorway only to realise it was being driven by a 16-year-old boy. The child had bought the red Kia with a group of friends for £250 earlier in the day before taking it on a 50-mile joyride along the M6 in Cheshire and Staffordshire. The underage motorist was eventually stopped at Stafford services near Stone after intelligence revealed the vehicle was untaxed, uninsured and without an MOT. After being arrested and a passenger revealing he was 16, the boy admitted he was 'sorry I done that' and confirmed his parents did not know what he was up to. Police found a total of four children were in the car, in the video shared exclusively with the Daily Mail from tonight's episode of 'Motorway Cops' on Channel 5. The clip begins with Cheshire Police PC Mark Gribble and PC Lucy Pond pulling over the car at the service station having chased it along the M6 after it failed to stop. PC Gribble tells his colleague: 'You ready? Go and grab them keys.' PC Pond jumps out and gets the driver out of the car before putting him in handcuffs. She tells him: 'Out mate, out of the vehicle, you're detained at the moment, OK?' He asks her 'why' and she replies: 'Because you made off from officers earlier on.' Cheshire Police pull over the red Kia car at Stafford services near Stone after a pursuit PC Lucy Pond jumps out and gets the driver out of the car before putting him in handcuffs While PC Pond reads the young driver his legal rights, PC Mark Gribble calls into control While PC Pond reads the young driver his legal rights, PC Gribble calls into control and tells them: 'Yeah, keys out the vehicle, driver detained, vehicle stopped.' PC Pond then tells the boy: 'Mate, I'm going to put you in the back of my car, have you got anything that's going to harm me or you?' Meanwhile PC Gribble speaks to one of the passengers, asking him: 'You alright, pal? Who are you anyway? Is this your car?' The boy replies: 'It's my friend's.' PC Gribble asks: 'How old's he?' And the boy says: 'He's 16.' The stunned officer says to his colleague: '16? Lucy, these are saying he's 16!' PC Pond, equally shocked, says to the boy: '16? What are you driving for?' He replies: 'I know, I'm sorry I done that.' She tells him: 'Yeah, well that's incredibly stupid.' She asks him: 'Where are your parents?' And he replies: 'At home.' When asked whether they know he is 'out driving', the boy says: 'No.' As PC Pond tells him to sit in her car, PC Gribble radios in to control to say: 'We've got four juveniles including the driver.' The boy was later taken to court after being charged with driving without a licence and driving without insurance.  It comes as calls grow for a crackdown on social media videos of reckless drivers performing dangerous stunts after two tragedies in the space of a few days have left 12 dead. On Saturday, two police officers died when a car driving the wrong way on a dual carriageway crashed into their vehicle in Teesside.  PC Pond tells the boy he is going into her police car and checks he does not have any weapons Meanwhile PC Gribble speaks to one of the passengers who confirms the driver is aged just 16 PC Pond asks the boy why he is driving at aged 16 and he replies: 'I know, I'm sorry I done that' PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, were killed when a Volkswagen Passat, that had been pursued by police, hit the marked armed response vehicle seconds after the chase was terminated. Cole Robert Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, and 23-year-olds Michael Robert Cahill and Jacob Matusiak were also pronounced dead at the scene. In a separate incident on August 16, five teenagers died when the car they were travelling in was driven the wrong way down the M9 in Co Kildare and hit another vehicle. Joey Carthy, 15; Alex McCarthy, 16; Jack Kennedy, 17; Kamil Pustkowski, 17; and Jeremy O'Brien, 18, all died.  Three sisters and a young boy from the same family, who were in the other car, were left with serious injuries. The Government has urged social media platforms to remove wrong-way driving videos. Arrogant motorists joyriding in stolen cars or inhaling laughing gas behind the wheel are becoming increasingly popular online. Each clip follows a similar theme, with the camera zooming in on a speedometer climbing rapidly before the lens pans to the driver and their passengers. 'Motorway Cops' airs on Channel 5 at 8pm tonight