AN aid volunteer has been given permission to travel to Burma despite the on-going protests against the country's ruling military junta.

Former police inspector Fred Farley, 67, of Coxhoe in County Durham, plans to make his seventh visit to the country, now called Myanmar, next week to take aid to a hospital for lepers.

Mr Farley said his visa had arrived and that he planned to fly on Wednesday to Bangkok, Thailand, and from there to Burma.

"I was amazed when it arrived because I didn't think I would get the visa because of the conflict that is going on,'' he said.