On March 12, police in Northumberland, England were alerted to the presence of a red Mini Cooper S that had found itself wedged into a narrow walking path. Although he hadn’t suffered from any serious injury, authorities had to help the driver escape from the vehicle, as his predicament made exiting through the car’s doors impossible. Once freed, police arrested the unidentified 31-year-old man on charges of grand theft auto. Local news station, ITV posted a video of the aftermath.
The car quickly became something of a curiosity. “I was rather surprised to see the car there. It’s a narrow footpath and this car was well and truly wedged. The area was cordoned off and there was a notice on the windscreen saying the police were aware of the incident,” remarked bystander Derek Taylor to the English newspaper, The Chronicle. “It looks like someone tried to do an Italian Job.”
“Doing an Italian Job” implies that the thief must have been attempting something he saw Michael Caine do in the 1969 film, or maybe Marky Mark in the 2003 remake. Both films end in an elaborate getaway sequence, where Mini Coopers pull off stunts such as squeezing into tunnels, jumping conveniently placed ramps, and even driving down flights of stairs. Of course, the stairs used in the movies weren’t quite this narrow.
The police made it clear that they soon intended to remove the vehicle, as Taylor also noted after 24 hours, all traces of the would-be stuntman’s silly blunder had vanished.