Michael Rayner (25), of Newmarket Road, snatched the car after the driver had left the keys inside, Nottingham Magistrates Court heard.

But he crashed the car into a ditch. He then got into a different car with an elderly couple and asked them to take him home.

But the couple told Rayner they had reported the crashed car to police and he fled.

The court heard that on a separate occasion Rayner had gone to the campus equipped with bolt croppers and screwdrivers looking for bikes to steal.

District Judge Morris Cooper told Rayner that he could not justify anything other than an immediate term of imprisonment.

In mitigation, the court was told that Rayner has problems reading and writing after he left school at 14, making it difficult to get a job.

Rayner denied going equipped for theft but was given 60 days in prison for the offence on February 2.

He was also given 90 days in jail after admitting taking a vehicle without consent, criminal damage and driving whilst disqualified on December 6.

He also pleaded guilty to being carried in a vehicle taken without the owner's consent on November 22 and theft of car stereo equipment on May 14 last year, for each of which he got 30 days concurrent.

His total penalty was 150 days in prison and disqualification from driving for two years.