A woman has admitted reckless conduct after she allowed a girl under 10 to drive her car through a small Scottish village.
32-year-old Sophie-Leigh Gemmell let the girl drive barefoot and in bad weather on July 10 last year in Crimond, Aberdeenshire.
Footage of the incident was shown in Peterhead Sheriff Court, where Gemmell was heard cheering her on.
At one point, the Sugababes were heard playing as the child used wipers, indicators and steered the vehicle.
Gemmell has been deferred for reports until next month, but admitted culpably and recklessly, with utter disregard for the consequences, allowing a child to drive a motor vehicle on a public road.
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Sheriff Annella Cowan is working to get a criminal justice social work report on Gemmell.
Her sentence has been deferred until the report is done.
The village has a population of just 870 people as of 2020, and is roughly 35 miles north of Aberdeen.
In May, a seven-year-old boy was grounded ‘for the rest of his life’ after stealing his mum’s car and driving his sister to McDonald’s.
The boy, who hasn’t been named, went for the early morning joyride with his sibling after the pair wanted a Happy Meal, their mum said.
They were caught by police just after 8 am on April 27 after officers received reports of ‘reckless driving’ in Ogden, a city in northern Utah, US.
According to broadcaster ABC4, the child set off from their family home in Clearfield earlier that morning before crashing into a road verge on 40th Street, around nine miles away.
Both of the children were unharmed in the crash.
Whitney Bush told the television station she had no idea about her children’s joyride until police knocked on her door to tell her what had happened.
She said: ‘I absolutely had my heart in my stomach… I had no idea what was going on, I was being told different stories of what was happening.’
She added she was impressed her son got that far and was wearing a seatbelt but did not condone his actions.
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