Boy, 16, arrives at school prom on hovercraft

A teenage boy shocked his friends by arriving at his Year 11 prom on a hovercraft.

Sixteen-year-old Josh used the unusual method of transport to arrive at the event at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton, Hampshire, on Friday 5 July.

His mum, Marie, said their family had been racing hovercrafts for "years and years", and Josh was "born into it".

Josh said it was "quite cool", adding: "It was such good fun just to see everyone go 'wow, look at that'."

As soon as the Wildern School prom was announced Josh said he wanted to arrive on his hovercraft, which his dad - a hovercraft pilot - designed and built in his garage.

"I asked the school whether that was a possibility, and the school then went to Southampton Football Club to see if that was even possible," Marie said.

"It's taken a bit of backwards and forwards to get the right health and safety and insurance etcetera, but they've been really accommodating."

Josh said some of his friends and his head of year knew what he was planning.

"But everyone else had no idea, so it was really good fun to see everyone," he added.

He parked the vehicle at the back of the stadium and the drove it round to the front entrance.

"There was a lot of cheering and smiling of happy people because it's obviously something different so I was quite happy with that," he said.

"It was quite cool just being there... obviously I do it a lot but it's so much cooler to have all those people there watching you and looking at you do it."

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