Schoolyard Chant Foils Armoured Heist

A group of school children helped foil an attempted armoured van robbery by memorizing the getaway car's registration plate in a school yard chant.

A passer-by who spotted the car, but feared she would forget the plate number so she asked a group of children to memorize it, police in Liverpool said.

The group of nine and 10-year-olds remembered the registration details by turning the numbers into a chant before a classmate arrived with a pen. The three thieves were traced and arrested within 40 minutes.

"The lady did not have a pen or paper on her so went over to the children and repeated the registration number to them," said a spokeswoman for Merseyside Police. "The children sang the song in a chant to help remember it, while one of them ran into the school for a pen."