‘Bit of fun’ just not on…

A MOTHER let her young children dangle headfirst from the car windows as she drove.

Former probation officer Stefanie Oakley told police who stopped her that her son and daughter, aged 6 and 7, were having “a bit of fun”.

The 42-year-old claimed the children, who were not wearing seatbelts, were not in danger because she was driving slowly along a high street, and said no one would have been concerned if it had been in an earlier era.

Witnesses spotted the boy and girl perched on the rear window sills of her Skoda Octavia. They were leaning out and holding on to the roof rack.

Oakley, who runs children’s crafts groups in the Peak

District town of Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, was charged with dangerous driving.

This week she was banned from the road for two years – and narrowly avoided an immediate jail sentence.

Magistrates in Stockport were told that Oakley, who pleaded guilty, was spotted by police and passersby as she drove to and from a cafe in Chapel-en-le-Frith on July 26 with the children hanging from the car.

Sonia Alford, prosecuting, said: “This defendant was seen on not one but two occasions. As she exited the restaurant, she was seen by staff and diners with her children sitting on the window sill of her car. As she pulls away, she is seen by a police officer and he shouts for her to stop. He witnesses her drive about 60 metres.

“He asked what she was doing and she replied it was ‘only a bit of fun’. She continued to say this in her police interview.”

Oakley, of Hathersage, said: “I am sorry and it was really stupid. I feel terrible about putting my children in danger.” – Daily Mail