A TAXI driver has denied making a series of sexual suggestions to three underage girls while taking them to school.

Syed Shah, 27, also became a Facebook friend of one of the schoolgirls, who sent him pictures of herself, Burnley Crown Court heard.

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Shah has admitted talking about sex with the girls, as he took them from their homes in the Burnley area to a Blackburn school, the court was told.

But he has insisted he was “only joking” when it came to inviting them to perform a sex act on him, according to prosecutors.

Eric Lamb told jurors that Shah also asked one of the girls: “Which back alley am I going to take you then?”

This could be plainly understood as the pair of them going to a back alley for sex together, said Mr Lamb.

The court heard that Shah’s cousin usually drove the girls to school but when he was unavailable the defendant would step in.

Shah, who worked for Prince’s Taxis in Burnley, was arrested by police last June, after officers received complaints about his conduct. Interviewed under caution, he said that conversation with the girls had occasionally turned to sex and he had made joking references to what they could do for him. Two of the girls had also asked him for cigarettes.

Shah maintained that one of the girls had made contact with him via Facebook before sharing pictures of herself, the court heard.

She had shared a picture of herself which “showed a lot of cleavage” but he denied asking her to send her pictures exposing herself yet further.

And he said if he had made any sexual remarks on social media then he would always follow them up with LOL (laugh out loud) to show he was not being serious, jurors heard.

Shah said he knew that the girls were underage but they frequently talked about drinking alcohol in town and smoking ‘weed’, the court heard.

Shah, of Thurston Street, Burnley, denies seven offences of inciting underage girls to engage in sexual activity. The trial continues.