A TAXI journey of just a few feet cost a 22-year-old Accrington man £200, a court was told.

Blackburn magistrates heard that disqualified driver Nazam Hussain got behind the wheel of a taxi and moved it a few feet to allow another car out of its parking position.

But the 'journey' was caught on closed-circuit TV which was later viewed by police.

Hussain, 22, of Blackburn Road, pleaded guilty at Blackburn magistrates to driving while disqualified and without insurance. He was fined a total of £140 with £60 costs and banned from driving for six months to run concurrent with the existing ban.

Francis McIntee, prosecuting, said the incident had occurred at 9.22 am on New Year's Day. He said Hussain had been arrested and kept in custody because his most recent disqualification, for an offence of driving while disqualified, had only been imposed in December.

"It is acknowledged that this was a very limited course of driving," said Mr McIntee.

Daniel King, defending, said Hussain had been helping out in the office of the taxi firm owned by his brother. He had sat in a parked taxi to have a cigarette and while he was there a driver wanted to move his car.

"The keys were in the ignition and my client moved the car he was sat in just a few feet before returning to its starting position," said Mr King. "The whole thing was captured on CCTV and if it hadn't been for that nobody would have been any the wiser. He literally moved the car just a few feet."