The British transport company Arriva which is one of the world’s biggest public transport operators has fired a train driver that allowed a 15-year-old train spotter to operate a passenger train in the Netherlands.

The footage of the incident in which the young boy is seen driving the train was posted on the Dutch website Dumpert which said it happened at a station at the Dutch-Limburg town of Echt.

The teenager can be seen settling down in the driver’s seat and taking control, talking to the train driver who stands behind as it speeds down the track. At one point, as it passes through fields, he is also allowed to hoot the horn.

The website did not reply when asked for a comment on who supplied the video and whether it was genuine.

However, after the footage went viral, an investigation was launched by Arriva and it was confirmed that the school boy was really driving one of the trains – and that the train driver who was an engineer had been fired immediately.

There was reportedly at least one passenger on board the train when it was being moved by the engineer, under contract with the local employment agency Loco Flex-based in Roosendaal.

Loco Flex director Alex de Coninck said: “As soon as we were notified of what had happened the engineer was fired immediately. Anything like this is completely unacceptable and swift action is needed.”

The engineer who was also qualified as a train driver had apparently been working for the agency for many years without problems, and the incident that saw him fired apparently happened two weeks ago.

The engineer was contacted by local media but declined to comment, and an investigation is apparently under way by local labour inspectors at the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) after the complaint by Arriva.