A COLLEGE lecturer convicted of not wearing a seat belt, has won a fight to clear his name.

Dr Peter Leaver, 51, had told a court that officers who stopped a car in which he was a passenger late at night were abusive, agitated and "possibly having a bad hair day."

He had asked one policeman if he ate a lot of carrots as he must have had remarkable eyesight to spot whether or not he was wearing a belt in the dark.

Judge Raymond Bennett, sitting with two justices, told Burnley Crown Court the bench was not saying the two officers who gave evidence were wrong, but they were not satisfied they were right.

The bench was unable to reject the man's claim that he was wearing a seat belt.

Dr Leaver, of Derby Street, Colne, won his appeal against conviction by Pennine magistrates and the £50 fine imposed was quashed. He must pay the £35 costs of the lower court.

The court heard Dr Leaver declined a fixed penalty ticket and when he was cautioned said he had been wearing a seat belt.

He told the hearing he had been in an extremely good mood, as he had won £25 in a pub quiz that night.

After the car was stopped, he claimed, a policewoman told him: "You, over here," and, he said, he would not speak to his students like that.

He said he had refused a fixed penalty ticket because he had been wearing a seat belt and had slipped the belt off to have a look round when the car was stopped. Dr Leaver said he had made an official complaint about the attitude of the two officers.