A 17-year-old has been fined £1,700 and banned from driving for three years for riding a moped after drinking.

James Michael Reubens admitted drink-driving as well as having no driving licence.

Magistrates also ordered him to take an extended driving test at the end of his ban and complete a drink-driving rehabilitation course.

Prosecuting advocate Rebecca Cubbon told the court that, on June 17 at 10pm, a witness at Ballafesson Road in Port Erin reported seeing Reubens with a group of other teenagers revving the moped and riding it in and out of the Methodist Hall car park.

Reubens was seen riding with two passengers on the back at the same time, neither of whom was wearing helmets.

The witness recorded the incident using their phone.

Police arrived and a check showed that Reubens only held a provisional licence.

He was said to be unsteady on his feet and smelling of alcohol.

When quizzed by police Reubens was said to have been evasive, telling officers his name was ’Jack’.

He was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving and carrying passengers without a helmet.

At police headquarters he failed a breathalyser test with a reading of 87. The legal limit is 35.

When interviewed the teenager admitted riding the scooter.

Defence advocate Peter Taylor asked for credit to be given for his client’s guilty plea, his admissions to police, and his co-operation with the intoxilyzer process.

’He is a young man. Unfortunately young people tend to do young person things,’ said the advocate.

’They were messing around in the car park.

’They didn’t go very far. The people who got on the back did so willingly. The address is very close to his grandmother’s where he lives on weekends.

’He says the majority of the drinking was after he had been riding but he accepts post-driving would not have affected the reading sufficiently to bring it below a ban.’

Mr Taylor went on to say that Reubens, who lives in St Mark’s Road, Ballasalla, had just started working and that the ban would hinder his prospects.

Magistrates also ordered him to pay £125 prosecution costs which he will pay along with the fine at a rate of £25 per week.