A disqualified driver who was seen driving off the ferry has been hit with a £1,850 fine.

Ryan Mark Sharvin said that he’d only been driving because it was a difficult angle coming off the boat, and his girlfriend had not wanted to drive his car.

Magistrates also issued a 12-month ban, which will run alongside the 25-year-old’s current ban, which was due to end in January 2026.

Prosecuting advocate Hazel Carroon told the court that police were at the Sea Terminal on April 22, as part of Operation Fortress.

They saw Sharvin driving a Mercedes Benz coming off the boat.

The car was stopped for a routine search and the defendant admitted he was banned.

He was arrested and said he’d not been aware that driving off the boat would be classed as driving on a road.

He claimed he’d asked ferry staff and they’d told him he could drive.

In court, Sharvin, of Reayrt Mie, Ballasalla, pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified and without insurance, but entered a basis of plea.

In it, he said he had driven down the ramp off the boat because it was a difficult angle and his girlfriend had been worried about driving the car down it.

He said she had driven in Belfast, where they’d been, and was going to drive again as soon as they were off.

Defence advocate Emily Brennan said that Sharvin’s car was expensive and of sentimental value, so his girlfriend had been worried about driving it off the boat.

Ms Brennan said that her client’s intentions had been good, it had been a very short journey, and he fully intended to swap seats after disembarking.

The advocate said that Sharvin had misunderstood the parameters of the disqualification.

He was also ordered to pay £125 prosecution costs.