Police admit boy aged nine arrested for drink-driving was actually nineteen

A police force has admitted a records mix-up after it wrongly declared that a nine-year-old boy had been arrested for drink-driving. The "schoolboy" was in fact a 19-year-old male but his date of birth had been initially inputted incorrectly on to the custody system.

Cumbria Constabulary released the information at the weekend in response to a Freedom of Information request for details of under 18s arrested for car crime in the north of England over the past two years. However, the birth date error was repeated as the disclosure made national and local newspaper headlines.

A spokeswoman for Cumbria Constabulary said: "The information used in this article came from a Freedom of Information request that was submitted to Cumbria Constabulary regarding the number of people under the age of 18 involved in vehicle-related crime.

"Unfortunately, the data provided by the constabulary about a nine-year-old drink-driver was incorrect. This error occurred because the male's date of birth was initially recorded on our custody system incorrectly, but this was later amended to his correct age of 19. We apologize for any inconvenience caused."