Photo: dailymail.co.uk
One man from London, U.K., loves buses so much that he often poses as a conductor and driver on social media and even occasionally takes them out on joyrides, picking up passengers on the way.
Shakeil Austin, 20, has pleaded guilty to 8 offenses from 2 separate incidents this year, British tabloid The Sun reports. The details for them are what has turned Austin into a celebrity of some sort in his home country.
Unlike most vehicle thieves, Austin didn’t steal the buses to wreck them or to commit further crime, though he did end up doing the latter. Instead, it was to fulfill some desire he has of being a conductor or driver. The bad news is that he only has a provisional driver’s license and, as you probably guessed, isn’t trained to drive buses, let alone pick passengers.
Austin stole his first Routemasters bus by simply walking on the lot in the middle of the night and driving off in it. The court heard that he must’ve taught himself how to operate it. At some point during the joyride, he crashed the bus into a white Mercedes but he continued on his way, later returning the bus to the Edgware Road depot he had taken it from.
One month later, he posed as an inspector (he had a uniform and all) and took a second bus. “He took another bus from the same spot, this time picking up two passengers on his ride. He let one of them, a male friend of his, drive the bus ‘about 15ft,’ Willesden Green magistrates court heard,” The Sun writes.
“After safely dropping off both riders, Austin again parked the vehicle where he had found it,” adds the same publication. This time, he didn’t cause any damage to the vehicle.
The Sun writes that Austin’s social media pages are littered with photos of himself posing with various Routemasters buses, all dressed up either as a driver or a conductor. Clearly, he has a dream. The problem is that he’s going about it the wrong way.
Unlike most vehicle thieves, Austin didn’t steal the buses to wreck them or to commit further crime, though he did end up doing the latter. Instead, it was to fulfill some desire he has of being a conductor or driver. The bad news is that he only has a provisional driver’s license and, as you probably guessed, isn’t trained to drive buses, let alone pick passengers.
Austin stole his first Routemasters bus by simply walking on the lot in the middle of the night and driving off in it. The court heard that he must’ve taught himself how to operate it. At some point during the joyride, he crashed the bus into a white Mercedes but he continued on his way, later returning the bus to the Edgware Road depot he had taken it from.
One month later, he posed as an inspector (he had a uniform and all) and took a second bus. “He took another bus from the same spot, this time picking up two passengers on his ride. He let one of them, a male friend of his, drive the bus ‘about 15ft,’ Willesden Green magistrates court heard,” The Sun writes.
“After safely dropping off both riders, Austin again parked the vehicle where he had found it,” adds the same publication. This time, he didn’t cause any damage to the vehicle.
The Sun writes that Austin’s social media pages are littered with photos of himself posing with various Routemasters buses, all dressed up either as a driver or a conductor. Clearly, he has a dream. The problem is that he’s going about it the wrong way.
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