Teenagers plead guilty to stealing bus route plates

Two teenage boys were so obsessed with buses that they stole the route plates from a KMB double decker, a court was told yesterday.

It was not the first time that Chan Tsz-him, 17 - whose father is a bus driver - and his 15-year-old friend had committed an offence because of their love of buses, Kwun Tong Court heard.

Last June, they were caught taking a bus for a joyride. They were wearing bus driver uniforms and had obtained a bus key that allowed them to get into the vehicle. In January, the two were both sentenced to a one-year probation order.

In court yesterday, Chan and his friend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted to having breached the probation order and pleaded guilty to one charge of theft.

"They cannot explain why they love buses so much that they are so eager to obtain anything to do with buses," their lawyer said. "What they need is professional counselling rather than a custodial sentence."

The lawyer said that Chan had loved buses since he was a small child, and his 15-year-old friend had developed a fondness for buses since the age of seven.

The pair loved to learn about anything related to buses. They observed buses on roads, took pictures of them and went on bus rides for fun whenever they were free, the lawyer said.