St Catherine’s schoolgirls, 13, in McDonald’s TikTok video drama
A social media video showing 13-year-old schoolgirls from a top Toorak girls’ school driving down a McDonald’s drive-thru will be investigated by police, who described the incident as “idiotic”.
VIC News
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Victoria Police is investigating an “idiotic” TikTok McDonald’s Drive-Thru video showing a student from the prestigious St Catherine’s School - thought to be aged just 13 — at the wheel.
Police confirmed they received a report yesterday from the Toorak girls’ school regarding the video involving some of its students.
“The video featured a group of teenagers driving through a drive through of a fast food outlet in Prahran,” Victoria Police confirm in a statement to the Herald Sun.
“Police are currently investigating to determine if a number of offences have occurred.
“As a part of the investigation, police will be engaging with the teenagers in question, their families and the school they attend.”
The video comes after explosive revelations in the Herald Sun over the weekend of bullying conduct by girls from the school at a school camp in October last year.
Police expressed concern about the footage, uploaded to the increasingly popular social media platform TikTok.
Three girls, barely in their teens with two wearing St Catherine’s uniforms, can be seen brazenly driving through the McDonald’s Drive-Thru.
It has since been taken down from the platform.
Other versions of the video are believed to be doing the rounds elsewhere on social media.
“It is alarming to see underage drivers behind the wheel of the car and not wearing seatbelts,” the police statement says.
“Driving a vehicle takes a considerable amount of skill and isn’t something that should be taken lightly. Every time you get behind the wheel of a car, you are responsible for the safety of everyone in the vehicle, as well as other road users nearby.
“This behaviour is idiotic and will not be taken lightly.
“Young people are three times more likely to be killed in a collision, in comparison to older more experienced drivers.”
In a surprising twist, St Catherine’s School told the Herald Sun the girls, thought to be no older than 13, were “under the supervision of a family guardian” at the time.
Two of the girls are wearing the St Catherine’s summer school uniform. One is wearing a Portsea T-shirt.
What was thought to be another girl, but according to the school is the ‘guardian’, is in the back seat where they can be heard but not seen.
In response to a series of questions from the Herald Sun today — on how the girls would be dealt with, how the school was looking after their wellbeing and the school’s social media policies — deputy principal Robert Marshall would only say: “Our focus remains on the care of the girls and their families and we appreciate you will understand this remains a private matter for the families involved.”
In the video the unlicensed teen driver is wearing a St Cath’s uniform.
They have placed emojis over the school’s emblem but it is still visible as they move around during the carpool karaoke.
No one is wearing a seat belt.
The incriminating video was uploaded to TikTok by one of the girls but the video has subsequently been deleted.
After the Herald Sun made inquiries to the school and one of the girls’ mothers, the account was deleted.
Mr Marshall confirmed the incident in a one paragraph statement to the Herald Sun.
“The school is aware of an isolated incident that occurred outside of school hours involving three students. This incident occurred while they were under the supervision of a family guardian. As this remains a private matter for the families involved, the school will not comment any further at this time,” Mr Marshall said.
Under VicRoads’ rules, learner drivers need to be 16 before they can apply for a learner’s permit and need to be supervised by a driver who has a full and current licence, who is required to sit in the front seat.
“When learning to drive we recommend you only have your supervising driver with you, until you get more practice. When you both agree you’re ready, you can start to practise with passengers if they’re not distracting you from driving,” according to VicRoads.
The school demands fees of around $35,000 a year for Year 8.
It shows the girls driving into what appears to be McDonald’s Prahran in Malvern Rd. It is unclear what day the video was filmed.
The girls are heard to give the teen driver instructions. They are looking at the camera on the dashboard, gesticulating with hands over their faces in a show of exaggerated fear.
“Guys, I know how to drive. I am not even pressing the pedal because I don’t need to,” the driver says.
“Brake, brake, brake,” the passengers chorus.
“I don’t need to brake yet,” the driver responds.
You can hear the drive-thru attendant ask the girls:
“What can I get for you today?”
The hungry girls respond with a chant that has been doing the rounds on social media.
“Can I get a Big Mac, super serve of fries, why are you staring at me, please go get my apple pies,” they sang.
They then go on to order four Big Macs, 20 chicken nuggets, three large chips, one McFlurry, five apple pies and one chocolate milk shake.
“Was that a medium?” the drive-thru assistant replied.
The video then ends.
In total, the order comes in just under $70. It is unclear what happened next.
The misconduct included making a girl drink her own urine. The school confirmed that the girls involved in those incidents, which also involved smearing blood on a wall, were dealt with.
In this separate incident the girl who posted the Tik Toks is a regular on the social media platform which allows users to share lip synching to songs and dances and upload the videos.
The budding filmmaker, who uploaded the video, has had nearly 11,500 likes on her content.
She has previously posted videos of the girls “driving” but they are clearly fake.
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The duty manager at McDonald’s in Prahran said she was not aware of any incident at the store.
She added that staff did not ask drivers for their licence when they ordered via the drive through lane.