In Melbourne, a 15-year-old boy with an obsession with trams
stole a tram from a depot and took it for a ride, picking up passengers along the way. He got all the way from Southbank depot to Kew. Somewhat reminiscent of
Malcolm, except for the SWAT-team tactics the police used to take him down. Of course, things have changed a lot since 1986, and for all they know, he could have been an al-Qaeda terrorist planning to load the tram up with sarin and dirty bombs and blow it up at a football match or something.
This, of course, isn't the first time an obsessive anorak borrowed a public transport vehicle and took it for a spin; not that long ago, a man in New York was jailed for impersonating subway drivers.
The best part is that on the ABC newswire yesterday the police were reported as saying "he's just a very enthusiastic young lad" - apparently he's not a crim, but really really loves trams, so he's gettinga way with a slap on the wrist. He had done something similar last week too....