TERENCE John James Mulleny's addiction to cars meant there was hardly a week since 1983 when he had not been disqualified from driving.

And Blackburn magistrates were told that should the day ever come when Mulleny was not disqualified, he would have to pass an extended driving test before he could hold a full licence.

Mulleny, 35, of Shaw Street, Blackburn, was jailed for 150 days after pleading guilty to driving while disqualified, without insurance or test certificate.

The court heard he had been convicted of two offences in March 2000 which resulted in a combination order and two-year ban. Four offences of driving while disqualified in 1998 had both resulted in custodial sentences and there had been many more convictions for similar offences before that.

Daniel King, defending, said Mulleny's record demonstrated an addiction to motor cars. "The only descriptions that could be applied to his offending were consistent and persistent," he said.

"There were offences every year, often multiple-convictions and there was hardly a week since 1983, when he was 16 years-old, when he was not disqualified."

Mr King said the offence in March 2000 came after a lengthy gap and there had been a similar gap to the latest offence.

"What he is saying is that at long last he has got his addiction under control," said Mr King. "He is trying to get to the end of a disqualification so that he can put this kind of behaviour behind him."

Mr King said Mulleny had driven on the latest occasion because he got a phone call from his sister who had gone shopping and left her 16-year-old daughter in charge of five children. There was water flooding through the ceiling on to electrical appliances.

"His sister was hysterical and when he put the phone down he got a call from his niece who was also in hysterics," said Mr King. "He was drawn into his sister's and his niece's panic and reacted instinctively by jumping into the van parked outside."