A YOUNG driver was found dead in his vehicle after a passing farmer spotted a car parked with a hosepipe pushed through the window and attached to the exhaust.

Police said the man, who has not yet been formally identified, was discovered at 9.40am yesterday by Jimmy Cropper, who lives in a farm off Burnley Road, Bacup.

Officers investigating the death said the vehicle was parked in a beaten track off Burnley Road East.

Mr Cropper's son, also called Jimmy, said his father smashed the passenger side window of the red Vauxhall Nova to try to rescue the man from the vehicle.

He attempted to revive him, but was unsuccessful.

Mr Cropper's son, also called Jimmy, lives in Turner Street, Stacksteads.

He said: "It is the second body my dad has found.

"About 10 years ago he found a man that had been murdered, so he was quite shaken up when he found this one.

"He found a note in the man's top pocket describing why he had taken his own life -- what a waste of a young life."

Mr Cropper called police and paramedics to the scene.

Detective Inspector Stuart Barlow, who is leading the investigation, said: "We were called to the scene where we found a man dead in his car. The car was found with pipe through the window which was connected to the exhaust."

The police are not treating the incident as suspicious and the coronor has been informed of the death.