A DEFENDANT who is expected to undergo a kidney transplant within weeks has escaped jail after twice getting behind the wheel while banned.

Burnley Magistrates heard how Gary Morgan, 22, who is also partially blind and who spends 10 hours a day on a dialysis machine, was going to receive a kidney from his mother in an operation which was due to be carried out by a surgeon from America.

Morgan was found to have an hereditary condition but had originally been planning to donate a kidney to his father.

Sentencing him, the bench said while his health was a concern and an able-bodied person would have gone to prison, it had not stopped him offending.

He was given a 12 months community rehabilitation order and was told to grab the opportunity being given him with both hands.

The defendant, of Hargher Street, Burnley, had admitted two counts of driving while disqualified, two of not having insurance and one of police obstruction after he gave his brother's details when stopped. He was also banned for two years.

Rachel Adamson, defending, said Morgan had been under great pressure for a number of years and stress and depression led him to do things on the spur of the moment.

He had been partially blinded in an accident at work when he had been a slaughterman and seemed to have lost direction in his life after that and gone off the rails a little. The defendant was suffering from renal failure and had been going through quite a tragic time.

The transplant operation had been scheduled for September 2. Morgan hoped the operation would take place as planned.

Miss Adamson said Morgan believed his disqualification had expired and believed he was only committing driving licence offences.

She added the probation service thought the defendant would benefit from the Think First programme included in a community rehabilitation order.