KEEN to help provide transport for some stranded friends, twenty-one-year-old James Curry took the keys to his father s Volkswagen Sharan and got another person to drive the vehicle. His father reported the car missing — but then discovered James had aske

KEEN to help provide transport for some stranded friends, twenty-one-year-old James Curry took the keys to his father's Volkswagen Sharan and got another person to drive the vehicle.

His father reported the car missing - but then discovered James had asked his sister to help tow it home, after it sustained £800 worth of damage.

Curry, of Mill Close, Wisbech, admitted aggravated vehicle taking when he appeared before Fenland magistrates on Tuesday. He was banned from driving for a year, told to pay £55 costs, and must carry out 120 hours of unpaid community work.

"He had been drinking himself that night, and got a telephone call from friends stranded in Newmarket," said solicitor Roger Glazebrook.

"He took the keys and gave them to someone else who had not been drinking. That person hit the kerb and the car was damaged.