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Man lets 9-year-old drive Ferrari, gets arrested

It can be frightening enough to let the accident-prone fruit of your loins loose on your smartphone or laptop, but that’s nothing compared to letting them drive your high-powered supercar. Yet that’s exactly what Tobacco and real estate businessman Mohammed Nisham did.

To celebrate his son’s birthday in style, Nisham, a resident of the southern state of Kerala, India, allowed the 9-year-old boy to take the family Ferrari F430 out for a spin on (admittedly quiet) public residential roads, while wife Amal Nisham did what any caring mother would do ─ filmed the incident and uploaded it to YouTube. Nisham’s 5-year-old son was a passenger in the car at the time.

As you can imagine, the video quickly went viral, upsetting many and delighting others.

Police have subsequently hit Nisham with charges of endangering the life of a child and allowing a minor to drive. The car nut has handed himself in at a police station near the city of Kochi, according to inspector Biju Kumar.

He has since been released, posting bail of 5,000 rupees (£60). His red Ferrari will be released from the impound within the next few days once all the necessary police paperwork has been completed.

Before you ring up child services and hide your own car keys, it’s common for children to learn to drive at a much younger age in India. In fact, Nisham’s son has been driving since the age of 5. This is why theparents are not remotely bothered about the incident.

Speaking to television channel NDTV, Nisham’s wife said: “It was his ninth birthday, and since he was insisting for months, we allowed him to drive the Ferrari. He is a cautious and confident driver,” she explained to television channel NDTV.

“It’s not easy for a child to achieve such a feat at this young age,” she added. “I’m proud of him – he’s been driving since he was five.”

Those of you in the UK contemplating letting your offspring loose in £200,000 worth of supercar would do well to remember laws in this country prohibit this in no uncertain terms. If they really must learn to drive, make them wait until they’re 17.

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