The man argued with stewards and police – causing a 20-minute delay to the North West Stages event on Saturday.

Rally spokesman Phil James said: "He had been out on the beach and laid out some lines and then he was wanting to make his way back from the beach via the Promenade, which meant crossing the circuit rather than walking round.

"The marshals had to restrain him and persuade him it wasn't a good idea to walk across where there were cars coming down at 100mph.

"Someone rang the police and a police motorcyclist arrived. Because he was on a motorbike he had to escort him to the highway opposite the Norbreck Castle and a van came to take the man away.

"The marshals seemed to have calmed him down, but he kicked off again when the police arrived.

"He could have put his life in danger and any of the marshals who tried to rescue him."

A Lancashire Police spokeswoman said a man who disrupted the rally had been arrested at around noon and given a penalty ticket for being drunk and disorderly.