An eight-year-old girl in Ohio took her mother’s car and drove for more than 20 minutes along busy roads to get to a local Target store – where she promptly went shopping.

The drama unfolded when Bedford police got a missing-child call that was followed up by another call “concerning a small child driving east on Rockside Road”, local TV station WJW reported.

Dash-cam video recorded from a personal vehicle driving in the area shows a man calling the police and reporting a vehicle behind him “swerving everywhere”. The swerving driver finally comes into view of the dash-cam and the man then tells police dispatchers: “It looks like a kid!”

Law enforcement launched a search for the errant child driver and her vehicle and eventually traced both to the Target store, which was at least 20 minutes through busy traffic from her home.

The girl was found in the store and her family was contacted to come and get her. No one was injured in the escapade but the child reportedly told officers she “struck a mailbox” on her trip.