A French tourist mispronounced his destination to a driver and was taken 1,000km away from his destination.

Jack, 22, was visiting the tropical country for the first time and booked a taxi from Bangkok to the island of Koh Tao in Surat Thani province on February 12.

The backpacker told the cabbie his drop-off point, without realising he would need to a ferry to reach the island in the southern part of the country.

However, the mispronunciation and the language barrier left the taxi driver confused, so he set about driving to 'Doi Tao', 1,000km in the opposite direction the north of the country.

Koh, which sounds like Cho as in chocolate, and Tao, which sounds like wow, could be mistaken for Doi, as in toy, and, Tao, also pronounced like wow.

Jack fell asleep in the car but was confused when he woke up in the remote landlocked region, hundreds of miles away from any kind of beach.

Footage shows the lost tourist speaking to local police who offered to help him reach his destination.

He said in the video: 'Tomorrow, I go to Koh Tao. No Doi Tao. Koh Tao, the island.'

Jack said he took the situation in his stride but wondered why the cabbie had disappeared after dropping him and collecting the fare of more than 6,000 Baht (142.10 GBP).

He said: 'I woke up and I was already in Lamphun near Chiang Mai. I was shocked to see mountains instead of the sea.'

Officers taught Jack how to say the name of the island correctly and they drove him to a hotel. They then helped to find him a ride back to the capital on a cabbage delivery truck leaving the next morning.

Police Corporal Teerapat Modjod said: 'We received a report that a foreigner had left his wallet behind at a restaurant. We tracked him down and found out about his situation.

'We took him to a resort to stay overnight and escorted him to the bus station so he could finally reach the island.'

Koh Tao, is also known as Death Island, due to the staggering number of unexplained deaths on the island. However, hundreds of thousands of tourists a year still visit the idyllic rocky outcrop with its crystal clear waters and breathtaking marine life.