A US teenager is facing grand theft charges after police caught him driving a forklift away from a rental shop.

Daytona Beach News-Journal reported a police officer saw 15-year-old Berny Cordero Junior drive the forklift out of a rental shop parking lot just after midnight on Friday.

When pulled over and questioned, Cordero said his father had asked him to get the forklift to a hotel.

Police checked with the rental shop and found no one had requested the USD130,000 forklift be removed.

Cordero was charged with grand larceny by Edgewater police and taken to the Division of Juvenile Justice detention centre in Daytona Beach.