One of the two teenagers – aged 13 and 14 – told a man who carried out a citizen’s arrest on him ‘my mum’s gonna kill me’.

The pair were allegedly spotted driving a Hyundai iMax at 75mph through Gold Coast, eastern Australia.

Motorist Bradley Cowper, 29, said he saw the van driving erratically so he followed it and when he got to a set of traffic lights he saw the boys wearing gloves and face masks.

When he went over and opened the driver’s door, it sped off across the central reservation and along the wrong side of the road.

He lost sight of it until a couple of miles up the road when the boys hit the kerb.

Speaking to the Gold Coast Bulletin, he said he would never forget one begging for his life and both of them looking petrified.

He said: ‘He was like, “my mum’s gonna kill me, this is the first time I’ve ever done anything illegal”.’

He carried out a citizen’s arrest on the boys with the help of two other locals and an off-duty cop, before the police arrived.

Talking about his motives, Bradley said: ‘If no one does anything, nothing will happen. Who’s going to stop (them)?’

It later turned out that the vehicle was stolen a few days earlier from 50 miles away in Brisbane.

A 13-year-old from Bellmere and a 14-year-old from Upper Caboolture were charged with unlawful use of a motor vehicle and will appear in Southport Children’s Court at a later date.