A teenage visitor to the island made a disastrous decision to move his car to a better parking spot after a night out drinking.

Joseph Patrick Ryan, from County Tipperary in Ireland, drove his car a mere 800 yards on North Quay, Douglas magistrates were told, after a row with his girlfriend.

The court heard police were following up a missing person alert concerning the defendant, when they found his black Mini parked on North Quay in a disabled parking bay. The engine was still warm, prosecutor Michael Jelski told the court.

’CCTV showed the defendant getting in the car and driving along North Quay sometime after 3am,’ Mr Jelski said.

Soon after, 19-year-old Ryan was discovered drinking cider with another man in the back yard of a property nearby on North Quay.

They arrested him on suspicion of driving under the influence of drink or drugs and he told them: ’I’ve been drinking all night; I’m over but I’ve only moved my car from there to there.’

He told police he had drunk six pints of Guinness and after a row with his girlfriend had gone to get some tobacco from his car.

’He decided to move it down North Quay so it was nearer to where he was staying,’ Mr Jelski said.

A breath test produced a reading of 49, slightly over the 35 limit for driving.

Defending him, Paul Rodgers pointed out Ryan had drunk a quantity of alcohol between driving and being breath tested, which would probably have raised his reading.

’But he gives an unequivocal guilty plea,’ he said.

Mr Rodgers said Ryan and his girlfriend had been out drinking during Tynwald Day when an argument erupted. The girlfriend had misplaced her mobile telephone.

He had gone back and found it and the pair became separated so he returned alone to his accommodation.

Ryan received a 12 month driving ban, a £750 fine and was ordered to pay costs of £125. He must take an extended driving test to drive again in the Isle of Man or the UK, but the ban does not extend to Southern Ireland where he lives.