FUN lovers were today reassured that clowning around was alive and well in East Lancashire amid fears that donning the red nose and curly wig was a dying art.

Concern was raised after a circus clown was excused from attending court for motoring offences because he had jetted to Dubai amid a world shortage in the profession.

But East Lancashire clown Larenzo today reassured the public that there were still plenty of the traditional clowns left in this area.

Defence solicitor Andrew Church-Taylor told Blackburn magistrates that Alex Sblattero, from Congleton, Cheshire, had flown to the Middle East because the clown appearing in an international circus there had been taken ill.

The solicitor then explained there was a shortage of circus clowns across the world...and magistrates promptly adjourned the case until April Fool's Day for him to return!

Mr Church-Taylor said: "I assure you this is a genuine explanation and I haven't made it up. I am told there is a world-wide shortage of circus clowns."

But today, Rossendale-based traditional clown Larenzo, who works across East Lancashire rather than in a circus, said: "Clowning is very much alive. There are always plenty of people booking us. If I had to do a ratio of clowns to a worker like a mechanic, there would probably be three clowns to every ten mechanics. But there are still plenty of clowns.

"All people have to do is look in the Yellow Pages and they will see how many there are."

Sblattero, 29, had previously pleaded not guilty to tachograph offences said to have been committed in Blackburn and Mr Church-Taylor said his client's contention was that the lorry was a showman's vehicle and therefore exempt from the tachograph regulations.

Speaking after the hearing Mr Church-Taylor said it was the most unusual excuse he had ever put forward before a court.

He said: "They say truth is stranger than fiction."

Worldwide organisation Clowns International represents about 400 of the entertainers across the world.

Clown Bluey, spokesman for the organisation, said: "We are the oldest clowns organisation in the world and started in 1947. It was formed by circus clowns for circus clowns. In those days there were very few clowns who worked outside the circus, but now a high proportion do.

"I have never been aware of an international shortage of circus clowns. We have a membership near 400 and it seems to stay at that rate or increase slightly each year. The tradition isn't in danger."