Rex
This is just unbelievable - a man drove around with a child TIED UP with rope in the back of a pick-up truck!
In what we can only assume was some kind of ridiculous attempt at securing the child in the back of the vehicle, the man - whose identity is not known - drove along with the child tethered into a car seat before pulling up on the PAVEMENT in a busy seaside town of Ashington, Northumberland, to go and collect some coal from the beach (No, we don't know why there was coal on the beach either...)
Stunned passers-by phoned the police after spotting the little boy roped into the truck.
Attempts to speak to the other adult sitting in the passenger seat proved fruitless when he refused to wind down the window.
When the police arrived, the driver of the car brazenly told them: "What's the problem? He's strapped in."
One witness was so horrified she took pictures of the little boy on her mobile phone. The woman told The Mirror: "I thought it was a doll at first. But then I saw the boy's head move and he pointed at a bird in the sky.
"It is a completely idiotic way to transport a child. His seat was wobbling all over the place as the car pulled in.
"There were bags scattered all around him. Debris could have blown into the back and hit him.
"If the driver had slammed on the brakes he could have been crushed by bags of coal.
"But when police questioned the driver he just said, 'What's the problem? – he's strapped in' and pointed to the rope.
"No one could quite believe what they were seeing."
A Northumbria Police spokesman told reporters: "The driver was spoken to by police at the scene and inquiries are ongoing."
Children under 14 must wear a suitable seat-belt or be in a child seat according to Department of Transport rules, with law-breakers facing a fine of up to £500.
The child was reportedly removed from his tethers after the police spoke to the driver...
OK, so we all have tales of how our parents drove with us in our un-strapped-in carry-cots on the back seats in the 70s, but HOW mad is this? TYING your child into a car seat?!