A criminal convicted of harassment and theft had to be freed because cuts meant the cells were shut.
Ryan Goss, who was sentenced to 16 weeks for breaching a community service order, was released to roam free around in court buildings to be taken to jail, the Mirror reported.
Funding cuts mean cells at Worcester are closed Tuesdays and Thursdays, so he was asked politely to wait for somebody to take him to jail.
Goss ate a chocolate bar, had a cigarette and chatted to friends on the phone while he waited for a prison van to turn up.
Later, after around an hour, a security van arrived from 36 miles away in Wolverhampton to drive him a further 70 miles to HMP Glen Parva, in Leicester.
A spokesman for Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals said that Worcester Magistrates' Court does not list custody cases on Thursdays.
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