Not content with throwing away a bad report card, one middle-school pupil in Alabama decided to fake his own kidnapping to avoid a stand off with his parents.

Ed White, an 11-year-old middle school pupil, claimed a man forced him into his car, armed with a pistol and threatened to murder him.

Having jumped from the car to escape, police became suspicious when he arrived home with his band instrument but not his bag, which contained the report card.

The boy eventually confessed the deception to his grandfather, who phoned the police to apologise.

No doubt he might have received a higher grade for creative writing or drama if he had applied such an imaginative effort to his subjects.

The whereabouts of the bag and report card are still a mystery.