BEHIND PARS; Racist groom in cells dressed as lady golfer.

Byline: By Alistair Munro

A STAG NIGHT groom dressed up as a woman for a boozy game of "pub golf" - then ended up in the cells for racially abusing a burger bar boss.

Gary Lyon kitted himself out as a lady golfer for the drinking game, where players go round a "course" of nine pubs and guzzle pints and shorts in as few mouthfuls - or "strokes" - as they can.

Lyon, 31, and his eight playing partners knocked back drinks including vodka, whisky, tequila, After Shock, Magners cider, Guinness and lager.

And according to his pals, the groom won the game by scoring a "hole in one" at every bar - downing his drink in one.

The night turned sour when the stag party decided to refuel at McDonald's.

Staff refused to serve them. And Lyon and pal Murray Nicol, 31, turned their anger on the restaurant's Latvian duty manager.

The pair accused Andreis Murneiks and his countrymen of taking jobs from Scots. Both were arrested and taken to the cells, still in full costume.

Electrical engineer Lyon, of Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, held his stag do in Inverness in February.

His group were dressed as golfers, and their "course" of pubs took in Wetherspoons, Hootanannys, The Room, 21 North, The Phoenix, The Sports Bar, Bar Pivo, The Gellions and Johnny Foxes. The rules of the game warned that some pubs were "water hazards" and any player who went to the toilet there would receive a two-shot penalty.

The penalty for vomiting was five shots and any player who got the group thrown out of a bar had to pay for the next round.

At Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday, Lyon and Nicol, of Kintore, Aberdeenshire, both admitted breaching the peace at McDonald's in the city by making a racial remark to MrMurneiks. They were fined pounds 300 each.

Ken Ferguson, defending Lyon, said his client regularly worked alongside Polish immigrant workers without any problems.

He added: "My client is ashamed at the remarks he made and is concerned at the stigma attached."

John McColl, for Nicol, added: "He too is thoroughly ashamed by his behaviour."

The court heard Nicol earned pounds 4000 a month as a project engineer for the oil industry and had travelled all over the world without any racial incidents.

CAPTION(S):

ABUSE: Lyon was dressed as a lady golfer for the stag do but ended up being arrested; UNHAPPY MEAL: Lyon was barred