A MAN who drove a moped on a pavement to chase down a group of children has appeared in court.

Andrew Nelson was charged with driving without due care and attention and using threatening or abusive words after an incident on Walney.

The 37-year-old appeared, of Parker Street in Barrow, at South Cumbria Magistrates' Court, where pleaded guilty to the charges.

He was said to have got into an altercation with a group of 12-year-old girls at the back of The Nautical Club that ended with him chasing after them down the Promenade on his moped.

Prosecutor Lee Dacre told the court: "There was a group of children sat on a bench and Mr Nelson came across and an altercation took place.

"Mr Nelson departs and comes back on a moped and rides it straight towards the bench."

He said the children ran away and Nelson drove his moped on the pavement after them.

Solicitor Michael Graham, representing Nelson, said: "Mr Nelson was arranging to meet his daughter.

"She hadn't arrived so he approached a group of children to ask to borrow one of their mobile phones to contact her.

"The children knew who he was and he was met with a torrent of abuse."

Mr Graham said the moped chase was Nelson's 'response to being verbally targeted and abused by the children'.

Nelson, who was said to have 48 previous convictions, was sentenced to a £180 fine, banned from driving a vehicle for six months and told to pay a £30 victim surcharge.