'The film was shocking. Now I wouldn’t get into a car with joy-riders' (From York Press)

'The film was shocking. Now I wouldn’t get into a car with joy-riders'

11:00am Saturday 7th June 2008

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A YOUTH club has helped highlight the sorrow and suffering caused by joy-riders by showing our hard-hitting film Live Now, Drive Later.

Moly's Kitchen, which runs a free, weekly session for children in Dringhouses, York, showed the film to mark the community group's eighth anniversary.

On Thursday, to celebrate the landmark, youngsters were invited to watch our Live Now, Drive Later film, before enjoying a free barbecue and games, held at the Moor Lane Youth Centre, in Wains Road.

Volunteer Tracey Cunningham, of Dringhouses, runs Moly's Kitchen with her friend, Wendy Barker. She said by showing the film she hoped the children would learn of the dangers of joy-riding.

"The film has had a lot of publicity, but I am not aware of any youth group who has played it and we thought the anniversary would be a good chance to show it to the children," she said.

"If showing it to the children means that it keeps just one child safe then I think we have done our job."

The Live Now, Drive Later campaign was launched last year after an inquest heard how two teenagers and a Press van driver died in an accident in Stockton Lane, York, in 2006, caused when one of the teenagers took his father's car and crashed into the van.

Our film, which was made by York-based Flash Frame Productions, featured interviews with relatives of those killed and also a fictional story of a joy-riding crash.

It has been shown in schools across York and North Yorkshire as part of roadshows, organised by the emergency services, and has also been screened by individual firefighters, schools, road safety campaigners and young offender organisations elsewhere in the country.

Our long-term aim is to get it into schools nationwide.

After watching the film at Moly's Kitchen, 12-year old Samantha Taylor said: "I thought it was really good. It definitely makes you think twice about getting into that kind of situation."

Friend Toni Pennock, 14, said: "The film was really shocking. Now I wouldn't get into a car with joy-riders."

Annie Greenwood, who suffered massive facial and other injuries in a crash in York in 1990, contributed to the making of the film and also attended the event on Thursday night.

Wendy and Tracey said the evening had marked a "brilliant" eight years.

"We set up Moly's Kitchen because we were asked to by the local children who used to just sit on the street corners at night with nothing to do," said Tracey. "It has been a brilliant success so far and the children who attend have really enjoyed themselves.

"It is now eight years since we set the group up and although we have never celebrated a birthday before, we think eight years is a pretty special achievement."

Have your say

Should the DVD be sent to every school in the country?

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