IF a banned motorist gets into a vehicle and drives off he or she is putting other road users and pedestrians in danger.

For a start they are automatically uninsured because they cannot legally drive.

And anyone whose record includes a ban is behaving with criminal recklessness in going on the road at all.

That's a fact which will haunt Paul Houston of Accrington for the rest of his life.

His daughter died after running out into the road and being hit by a car driven by a man who was disqualified from driving and failed to stop after the accident.

The man, who was also a failed asylum seeker, was jailed for four months - a tiny term when compared with the effect it will have on the Houston family.

Mr Houston is campaigning for the introduction of a new offence of 'death caused while driving disqualified' to deter people from getting behind the wheel without a licence.

East Lancashire MPs Greg Pope and Jack Straw have backed his plan and Mr Houston is writing to Transport Secretary Alistair Darling calling for action as part of a review of traffic laws now under way.

As Greg Pope says if someone is banned it's because a court has decided they are not fit to drive. If they ignore that ban and have an accident they should have the book thrown at them.