On Tuesday afternoon, police in the south-central city of Hämeenlinna received a report of a car whose driver had filled up at a petrol station near the Iittala Glass Centre but left without paying.
Police located the car on the Helsinki-Tampere motorway and headed in pursuit of the southbound vehicle with sirens screaming. The driver attempted to flee at speeds between about 130 and 190 kilometres an hour. The car finally slowed and then came to a halt near Janakkala, some 40 km away.
The driver was a 20-year-old woman. She tested negative for alcohol but was found to be driving without a license – for the fifth time within a year.
There were five people in the car, three of them small children. Only one was in a safety seat, although police said they were young enough to need them.
The woman is suspected of aggravated endangerment of traffic safety, speeding and various other traffic violations, driving without a license and petty theft.