A drug-fuelled driver who rolled a stolen car then fled leaving his passenger still inside the wreckage is to get his licence back early.

Craig Jack Anderson was banned from driving for three years by the Deputy High Bailiff in 2014, but Douglas magistrates heard he was a reformed character who now needed his licence in order to keep his job.

James Robinson, for the prosecution, said the car, a Citroen C5, was was taken from outside the owner’s house in Turnberry Avenue, sometime in the small hours between December 20 and 21.

The next reported sighting of the car was at 2.30am, by a taxi driver, who spotted it careering out of control towards his parked taxi on Buck’s Road, smashing into it with enough force to shunt it up the road.

The Citroen came to rest on its side in the middle of the road and Anderson was seen climbing out and fleeing from the scene. A passenger was helped from the wreckage for fear it could catch fire. The taxi driver had to climb from his vehicle using the back window.

Anderson later contacted police and owned up, telling them he had been at a party in Onchan where he had been drinking and taking MDMA and cocaine. He had no licence or insurance and no permission to take the car.

In addition to the driving ban, he was also ordered to take an extended driving test.

The court heard the 22-year-old was two-and-a-half years into his three-year ban. He had relied on lifts to work from colleagues but this would become impossible in the near future and public transport was not a feasible option.

Defence advocate, Kate Alexander, said Anderson, of Strang Close in Braddan, was now working full time but without a driving licence he may not be able to keep his job. She stressed he had ’turned a new page’ and kept himself out of trouble since the incident, and had a child to support.

Magistrates’ chairman Gill Eaton accepted Anderson was a reformed character and agreed to lift the ban, meaning he can now obtain a provisional licence and take a driving test.