AN elderly Indian migrant farm worker who has no driving licence, speaks no English and does not know how old he is appeared in Worcester Magistrates' Court after he caused a road accident.

Sarban Singh, who thinks he is about 68, admitted careless driving and not having a UK driving licence following a crash on the A4104 near Pershore, when he pulled out in front of a motorist.

The crash happened at around 7.50pm when he was transporting a group of fellow workers. Singh, who has lived in Spring Road, Wolverhampton, for three years, was driving a white Ford Transit van containing five or six passengers behind a lorry being driven by his gangmasters when the crash happened.

Singh admitted he did not know the Highway Code but was simply doing as he was told.

He had been kept in police cells overnight and, speaking through an interpreter, the former Indian Army soldier said he would not be driving again - no matter who asked him.

Magistrates disqualified him from driving until he had a valid UK licence and endorsed any future permit with nine penalty points. They also fined him £200 for driving without insurance and ordered him to pay £43 costs.

In July 2003 three migrant farm workers were killed at Charlton when a high-speed train ploughed into a stationary minibus on an unmanned level crossing.

Iraqi-Kurd Adnan Kadir Karim, who spoke no English, was driving despite being unable to read road signs and not having a license or insurance. He was sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter.