Ramsey Marina businessman Robin Bromley-Martin has been cleared of driving on closed roads during Festival of Motorcycling practice.

In a judgment handed down on Wednesday, Deputy High Bailiff Louise Byrne found Mr Bromley-Martin not guilty.

She concluded that he had a reasonable excuse to be on the road and had not wilfully disobeyed marshals’ instructions.

The incident is alleged to have happened on August 20 last year between Ballacrye Road and the Wildlife Park in Ballaugh shortly after the TT course closed at 6pm.

He was returning home to St Jude’s after dropping a friend off at the airport.

At the Wildlife Park a marshal stood in the middle of the road waving a red flag in a figure-of-eight motion.

Instead of winding down his window asking for instructions, Mr Bromley-Martin did a three-point turn and drove back ’wrong-way’ on the course to the Ballcrye Road junction where he turned off and headed home.

In the event, no practices took place that night due to bad weather.

In her judgment, Ms Byrne said the use of the flag could be ambiguous when not coupled with other effective and clear communication.

She said she was not making an criticism of the marshals whatsoever. But they were ’infused’ with knowledge of the races and practice but it was not necessarily the case that members of the public had the same day to day knowledge of road closure times.

The marshal who had waved his red flag said in his evidence that he had pointed to the driver to turn into the car park of the Wildlife Park but instead the car had performed a U-turn as he had shouted ’no, no, no’.

Mr Bromley-Martin, who is one of the men behind the £100m Ramsey Marina project, said he had put up his hands in ’supplication’ for guidance on what the marshal wanted him to do.

He said he interpreted the signal as ’turn round and get off the course as quickly as possible’ - and he had left the course at the first available exit.

Ms Byrne said it could be argued that he should have wound down the window and asked for instructions but this fact alone did not mean his actions were unreasonable.

The court heard that the process of closing roads for practice starts at 5.45pm.

If there are stragglers on the road at 6pm, marshals will allow them to turn off at the next available exit and radio ahead.

The key thing is to get them off the road as soon as possible.

Once the barriers are up, no one is allowed on the road.

Friends of Ramsey Marina posted: ’In the end common sense prevailed and Mr Bromley Martin has been proven innocent of any motoring offences he was charged for last year.

’This will come as a huge relief to him and his family and also clears the path to allow him to continue to lead the Marina project through to fruition.’