AN 18-YEAR-OLD man was in a serious condition in hospital last night after a delivery truck he stole overturned on the N69 in Co Limerick.
It was the third vehicle the teenager had stolen in the space of a few hours and gardaí say it was fortunate nobody was killed during the rampage which began shortly after dawn yesterday.
A large section of the N69 was closed to motorists from 7am after the truck, which was stolen from a petrol station in Kildimo, overturned at an area known as Bolane. The 18-year-old took the frozen foods delivery vehicle while the driver was paying for petrol at the Campus petrol station in the town. He crashed the truck, which overturned a short time later on a bad bend at Bolane, Kildimo.
Less than an hour earlier he crashed a van, which he had taken from a relative, in Pallaskenry. He assaulted a motorist who stopped to offer him assistance before stealing his vehicle, a 4x4 jeep. He had difficulty driving the jeep, as it was an automatic, and abandoned the vehicle shortly afterwards and returned to Kildimo where he stole the truck.
"He was very lucky that he wasn't killed and we are thankful that nobody else was seriously injured," said a Garda spokesman.
Gardaí were yesterday waiting to interview the man who was taken to the Mid Western Regional Hospital where his condition was described as serious but stable. Gardaí at Askeaton Garda station are investigating all three incidents and are appealing for witnesses to contact them on 061 601630.