A MAN attempted to rob an ice-cream van and mobile shop of cash while wearing surgical gloves and brandishing a starting pistol, a court was told today.

Colin Watson demanded money but was rebuffed after the driver, former soldier Nicholas Bates, recognised the weapon as nothing more than a starting pistol, said Sue Jacobs, prosecuting.

Mr Watson, 23, who also goes by the nickname of "Buster", denies possession of an imitation firearm and attempted robbery, and is on trial at Teesside Crown Court.

Ms Jacobs said Mr Watson was known to Mr Bates since he regularly used the van to buy cigarettes for his father when it visited the Thorntree area of Middlesbrough.

Mr Bates was travelling along Midhurst Road, Middlesbrough, at about 3.30pm on February 9 this year when he heard a knock on the side of the van, causing him to stop and open the serving hatch.

Giving evidence, he said he saw Mr Watson, of Ripley Court, Middlesbrough, wearing a black woolly hat and surgical gloves.

He said: "He [Mr Watson] produced a starting pistol and said 'I just want money.'

"I said 'It is not even a real gun.'"

Mr Bates, who said he had spent 22 years with the 2nd Batallion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers before leaving three years ago, said Mr Watson then showed him the cartridges inside the gun.

However he failed to persuade him it was real, with the 43-year-old describing the weapon in court as "not much bigger than a capgun".

Asked by Ms Jacobs what happened next, he said: "I told him to get a job, or words to that effect, shut the window and just drove off."

Mr Bates said he heard bangs as he drove off and immediately went to see a colleague where he dropped off his takings. He said he was shocked when later on his round Mr Watson turned up again, but this time merely asking for 40 fags and two tins of dog food, before telling him to keep the change.

He said: "I could not believe what had just happened. He was as nice as pie. I thought he must have been on something earlier."

Mr Bates said the day after the incident he suffered a panic attack and decided to give up the van. He later made a complaint to police - but not until two weeks later - and Mr Watson was arrested on February 22. The defendant was also picked out in an identity parade.

He admitted when interviewed that he used the van but had never had a gun, whether real or not, and said he had been picked out in the identity parade because Mr Bates knew him from being around the area.

The trial continues.