Precocious brat...

Toddler buys car online
Wednesday September 27, 2006 07:35 - (SA)

LONDON - A three-year-old whizz kid pressing "all the right buttons" used his mother's computer to buy a secondhand Japanese car on the Internet auction site eBay, a newspaper reported.

The parents of the boy, Jack Neal, from Sleaford, Lincolnshire, eastern England, were dumbstruck when the website sent them a message of congratulations for buying the Barbie pink Nissan Figaro, a collector's item.

"We couldn't understand what was happening. Neither of us had bought anything," Jack's mother Rachel, 36, told the Daily Telegraph newspaper. "So we checked and saw it was a Barbie pink car which we'd bought for 8,999 pounds. We flew into a panic."

The following morning, Jack told his parents: "I've bought a car."

Rachel Neal said she thought she had left her eBay password in her computer. "Jack's a whizz on the PC and just pressed all the right buttons," she added.

Her husband John, 37, explained it had all been a mistake when he called the seller of the soft-top, second-hand car which has a 1.0 turbo-charged engine.

"Luckily he saw the funny side and said he would re-advertise," Rachel Neal added.

Paul Jones, co-director of Worcester Road Motors who is selling the car, said he had been "amused" by the bid.

"I had a phone call explaining what had happened and as soon as I heard it was a young boy who had done it by mistake I canceled the bid and re-advertised the car which is very collectable," Jones said.

"He must have good taste in cars. We've all got children and they do silly things at times so it was no problem."

It is the first time the car dealership has sold a car on the auction site. The car, which had been imported from Japan and refurbished, is available on eBay at a starting price of 7,999 pounds or a buy-it-now price of 8,999 pounds.

Sunday Times

I couldn't decide which was more pretentious... this, or the story about a Welsh regiment promoting a goat to corporal. I mean, really.