Islington’s courts were being filled with cases of lazy people “borrowing” cars without the owner’s consent.

A 21-year-old labourer from Monnery Road, Holloway, appeared at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ after being caught by an officer taking someone else’s car in Sunnyside Road, Hornsey Rise.

He was remanded in custody after saying: “I’m very sorry it all happened.”

Magistrate Seymour Collins moaned: “So far as I am concerned, this is going to be stamped out.

“Every single day I sit here, there are anything from one to six boys or men appearing before me for having taken a car without consent. The public have got to be protected.”

In other news, the British Horological Institute celebrated its 100th anniversary by reopening in Northampton Square, Finsbury.

It was founded in the Belvidere Tavern in Pentonville Road. It’s now based in Nottinghamshire.