Dubai: Almost a dozen students have been caught driving their parents’ cars to school without a driver’s licence since the beginning of the academic year in Dubai, police said on Saturday.

Brigadier Saif Muhair Al Mazroui, director of the Traffic Department of Dubai Police, told Gulf News that the pupils were all Emiratis — the youngest was 15.

“Some schools alerted Dubai Police about strange cars parked inside or around the school and blocking the movement of other vehicles. When we checked, the cars belonged to parents of the students in the schools. The under-17 students were driving their parents’ cars to the schools,” Brigadier Al Mazroui said.

The latest incident happened last week when police caught a teenage driver who had driven to his school and parked the car at the school entrance before attending class. The school informed Dubai Police.

However, when police summoned the parents, they told the officers that they didn’t know anything about the incident.

“All parents said they didn’t give the keys to their children but we think they aren’t saying the truth because if a parent confessed to knowing what happened, he could be prosecuted,” he added.

Dubai Police seized the 12 vehicles for two months as punishment and referred the parents to the Traffic Prosecution for letting their children to drive the cars without a licence.

“We have awareness programmes for the schools to educate the pupils about the danger of driving a car even near their houses or to the schools. Those teenage drivers don’t have a licence and can cause serious traffic accidents and endanger their as well as others’ lives,” Brigadier Al Mazroui added.

On October 9, traffic officers in Ras Al Khaimah caught 71 Emirati students driving without a licence.

They were caught in two days after officers carried out random inspections when they noticed that a number of youngsters were driving vehicles on the roads.

Of the 71 students, 25 offenders were from just one school, while 46 Emirati students were from other schools, said a senior police officer.

The age of the offenders ranged between 15 and 17 years.

Colonel Ali Elkum, director of the Traffic and Patrols Department at Ras Al Khaimah Police, said the students who were caught drove their parents’ vehicles.

The schools were not named by the officer, who added the inspections were conducted between 7.30am and 8.30am.