15-year-old Hijacks Melbourne Tram

I wrote Murder on a Melbourne Tram during the Covid years when we were restricted in our movements. It became the first Dusty Kent novel where I did not travel to the setting. I was already here in Melbourne and a regular tram traveller.

We love our trams here in Melbourne. Some love them even more than others. For example, in April 2005 a 15-year-old boy was so besotted with trams that he hopped in the driver seat of a C-class in the South Melbourne depot and off he went; past Luna Park in St Kilda, through Malvern and Kooyong and up along Glenferrie Road.

Amazingly, along the way, he stopped to pick up and set down passengers. His passengers were blissfully unaware that their tram was being driven by a completely untrained amateur who didn’t even qualify for a driver’s licence. The teenager was able to execute the difficult braking system correctly and even expertly changed the points on the track. (This involves getting out of the tram and using a long piece of steel pipe to pull a lever across.)

His joyride came to an abrupt end in Kew where he was met with a police armed-response team in eight cars with lights flashing and sirens blaring. His passengers objected to his arrest and praised his driving skills. No-one was hurt during the escapade — unlike in Murder on a Melbourne Tram where a dead body was discovered on a tram.