Gareth Barry has played the most minutes in Premier League history but spent a bit of time in a Spanish cop car after he and three team-mates 'stole' a taxi

Gareth Barry has the most yellow cards in Premier League history. But he was shown a red by Spanish police when placed in handcuffs after joyriding in a taxi.

The midfielder starred for the likes of Aston Villa, Manchester City and Everton throughout a career that saw him rack up a whopping 54,439 English top-flight minutes. But in 2018, whilst playing for West Brom, Barry's number was up when he and three team-mates, Jonny Evans, Jake Livermore and Boaz Myhill, were caught after an infamous late-night joyride on a team bonding trip to Barcelona.

The 45-year-old has now broken his silence on the Taxi-gate incident and revealed that he was handcuffed after returning to a McDonald's to resolve the situation. Recalling the incident on All Out Football's In The Mixer, Barry said: "Four of us go to an Irish bar and it's past midnight. We broke our curfew.

"So we thought we'd have a couple more drinks and then head home, which we did. The lads are hungry. On the way home, we asked the taxi driver, 'Do you mind just stopping at McDonald's?' As you do. Typical professional footballer food.

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"For some reason, he got out of the car to order it, which was a mistake by the taxi driver. One of us decides to jump in and drive the taxi away as a bit of a joke and said, 'We'll drive it around outside, around in a circle and bring it back.'

"So all four of us are now in the car with no taxi driver, we drive it around, the plan's going well. But we go the wrong way. And the next thing you know, we're in traffic on a highway.

"I'm an experienced player. The experienced pro. I jump out the car and say, 'Right, I'm going to go and tell the taxi driver we're bringing the car back.' But by the time I get there, the police are there.

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"So I called the lads and said, 'Don't come back. The police are here.' They continued on and I think they go and take the taxi to the hotel like good boys.

"But then I'm in handcuffs looking for them. In the police car! So I'm ruling myself out of driving this taxi. So you can blame one of the other three.

"Anyway, we got back to the hotel and I call the lads and say, 'Boys, what have you done with the taxi?' - 'We just parked it around the corner.' Fine. I think nothing of it. Just go to bed. The phones are ringing in the morning…

"Team meeting. Alan Pardew goes, 'What's going on lads? Somebody in this team has stole a taxi.' I say to the boys, 'Look, four of us have broken the curfew. We don't throw anyone under the bus.' We stayed in it together.

"We went down the police station and I don't know what they said. I know my side of this story. I protected everyone! But we broke curfew and it was unprofessional. Just one of those team bonding moments that got out of hand."

The four Baggies players did not face any criminal punishment after the taxi driver dropped the charges but they were slapped with disciplinary action by the club. All of them were fined and Barry admitted he was docked two weeks' wages. They also issued a joint public apology, but Barry says that his team should never have embarked on the trip in the first place.

He continued: "We shouldn't have gone on [that trip], by the way. They booked it thinking we were going to be knocked out of the FA Cup because we were playing Liverpool away at Anfield.

"We ended up beating Liverpool and then we still go and the lads are like, 'We won't do this trip, shouldn't go on this trip because we're playing on the weekend and we're flying back in on Thursday.'

"It's like poor preparation really, isn't it? But the team bonding. You know what happens on team bonding? It's important. So Alan Pardew was like, 'No, we'll continue doing it. We'll have one night out. A bit of team bonding, get some good training, warm weather training and come home.'

"Tuesday, we have the team night out. Fine. No curfew. Wednesday, the next night, Alan Pardew says, 'Right, go get some food lads and make sure you're back at midnight.' Them curfews are dangerous, aren't they?"

The Baggies went on to lose 2-1 to Southampton in their fifth-round clash, with Barry and Evans receiving a mixed reception from the crowd, while back-up keeper Myhill remained on the bench and Livermore was absent through injury.