A 15-year-old boy who caused chaos on the streets of Edinburgh on a stolen motorbike has been remitted to the Children's Panel and disqualified from driving for 27 months.

The ban means the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will not be able to legally drive until he is at least 17.

He pled guilty previously at the city's Sheriff Court to driving a stolen black Honda motorbike dangerously on August 30 last year.

Sentence was deferred until Thursday for a Criminal Justice Report and advice from the Children's Panel.

The chase began around 3pm when police saw the youth driving the bike in Queensferry Road with a pillion passenger, narrowly avoiding parked cars and driving along the pavement.

As he made off at high speed, his pillion passenger made an offensive hand gesture to the police.

At 3.20pm a witness saw the bike going through a red traffic light in Gorgie Road at speed.

In Westfield Road, the bike swerved to avoid an elderly woman who was crossing the road.

Later, as they passed a school teacher, one of the boys on the bike shouted "Miss".

The teacher recognised the driver as the accused and that the bike was being followed by a police car.

As the bike approached a busy junction the boy drove across four lanes, weaving in and out of the traffic.

Drivers braked to avoid a collision and the boy mounted a pavement.

At another junction, he failed to see school pupils in uniform crossing the road and drove through the middle of the group, narrowly avoiding them.

The chase ended at 4.20pm when he lost control of the bike.

Defence solicitor, Liam Kildare, told Sheriff Frank Crowe that his client and family had been working closely with the Social Work Department.

Sheriff Crowe, described the youth's action as "a shocking offence which caused a great deal of public outcry in the Pilton/Ferry Road area."

He told him: "I hope you will take heed of the advice and support over the next couple of years or so."