A BANNED driver spotted travelling around Barnoldswick on a motorised goped told police it was a mistake and he had not thought a licence was needed.

Darren Roberts, 20, who is disqualified from driving until May 2001, told Burnley magistrates a police officer had told him it would be all right to use the goped and the salesman he bought it from told him he did not need a licence.

The bench told Roberts they accepted his version of events and he was absolutely discharged. The defendant, of Havre Park, Barnoldswick, was also banned from driving for six months and must pay £55 costs, after admitting driving while disqualified and no insurance.

The court heard it was Roberts' third conviction for driving while disqualified and he had spent most of the time in the last few years banned. He told the court: "It was just a misunderstanding. I wouldn't have gone on it if I knew I was going to get myself in trouble."