An eight-year-old boy got a stern talking-to earlier this week when he took his mother’s Volkswagen for a joyride on the German motorway, but after pulling the stunt again, hitting speeds of 112mph, he has been put into psychological counselling.

Dortmund police said on Friday the boy stole the keys to the Golf around midnight and drove from his hometown Soest to Dortmund, about 30 miles away.

Traffic lights
Traffic lights (Niall Carson/PA)

Police say another motorist reported the child driving at high speeds in the city, saying “red lights and driving regulations did not seem to interest” him.

As police searched for the vehicle, the boy drove out of town and crashed into the back of a parked lorry at a rest stop.

Nobody was injured but the Golf was badly damaged.