The two brazen teenage boys managed to somehow convince a heritage rail volunteer that they were both qualified and cleared to be driving the train.
The would be train-robbers (who knew that train thievery still even existed?) were only able to move the train a metre before they crashed it into a carriage.
It was only after the two crashed the locomotive into the carriage that the volunteers set to guard the heritage vehicle realised that something was amiss and contacted the relevant authorities.
“The heritage diesel locomotive actually bumped three heritage carriages onto a heritage rail motor,” Mary Valley Heritage Railway (MVHR) President Tony Hallam told AAP.
Mr Hallam also said that he was suprised at the audacity of the two teenagers given how dangerous the situation could have been had they brought the machine up to a fast speed, or somehow ended up blundering onto the wrong side of the tracks.
“This individual may have got it into his head to head onto QR (Queensland Rail) tracks,” he said.
“The scenarios are frightening and fortunately the MVHR volunteer from the shed here realised something was amiss and had the presence of mind to contact me.”
A 17-year old from Brisbane has been charged by the police with fraud, unlicensed driving and unlawful operation of a vehicle. His 18-year old mate has been charged with fraud. Both will appear Gympie Magistrates Court later in April.
But what of the MVHR volunteer/s that allowed all of this to happen in the first place? What punishment for gross negligence, even complete stupidity?
Maybe I’ve been watching too much Game of Thrones recently but surely a few heads should roll for this, both literally and figuratively… Decorate the workshop walls with a few heads on spikes?
Too much I hear you say? Well, at the very least you’d have thought they’d get fucking fired.
