A BANNED driver took a car and then put it back before the owner even knew it had been missing, Burnley magistrates heard.

Sajid Khan, 21, was spotted by police, who knew he was disqualified, and he ran out of the back door when they later turned up at his address.

He was found hiding in the loft of another property.

Khan, of Daneshouse Road, Burnley, was put on probation for 12 months, has to attend the responsible drivers programme, and was disqualified from driving for 12 months, after admitting taking a motor vehicle without consent, driving while disqualified, no insurance, and failing to surrender.

He was told he had been given a last chance to mend his ways.

Mark Williams, defending, said the owner of the car found it exactly as he had left it. Khan had a record going back to 1995.

The defendant accepted that the court could send him to prison.

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