A hapless car thief who stole a car in the Highlands to drive home to Yorkshire first had a puncture and then got lost in the snow, a court heard yesterday.
Andrew Ridsdale, 32, abandoned the Fiat estate in a forest and walked and hitch-hiked more than 60 miles until he reached another village where he stole a second car to continue his journey.
However as he neared his home in Barnsley, the police had been alerted that the Peugeot van had been stolen and Ridsdale was arrested.
He appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday and admitted the theft of both vehicles and driving them while under a lifetime ban on January 16 and 17 this year.
He was jailed for a total of 32 months.
The court was told Ridsdale had come to the Highlands to look for work. But his train journey north was interrupted at Kingussie and he was forced to try to find a local hostel to sleep in overnight.
Ridsdale couldn’t locate the accommodation in nearby Kincraig and stole a car for shelter, said his lawyer Pauline Chapman.
She added: “He then drove down the A9 but a rear tyre burst. Despite having only three wheels on his wagon, he kept rolling on but got lost around Dalwhinnie and ended up on a forest track in deep snow. The car got stuck on a rock, and he decided to leave it behind and make his way to Fort William where he hoped to find a job.
“He walked and hitched until he reached Lochaline where he looked for a church to sleep in. He couldn’t find one, he decided to head home and he stole the second car. But police in Yorkshire had been informed and they stopped him as he drove near his home. My client has a bad record and was banned from driving for life in June 2002 at Fort William and realises there is only one realistic option for the court.”
Sheriff David Sutherland told Ridsdale: “A custodial sentence is appropriate. But I will backdate it to January 20 when you were remanded in custody.”