ALERT bank staff felt there was something not quite right about the credit card on which Margaret McAuslin requested £1,000, and called in the police.

A court heard yesterday that the suspicions of staff at the Yorkshire Bank, in Ripon, proved to be well-founded.

Inquiries revealed that not only was the Visa card a fake, but so too was the photo driving licence that McAuslin produced to back up her plea for cash.

When McAuslin, 27, pleaded guilty at Harrogate Magistrates' Court to attempting to obtain money by deception, the prosecution dropped charges of using a false instrument and forgery.

Gemma Davies, prosecuting, told the court that McAuslin, who had 19 convictions for dishonesty, was facing 40 deception charges, involving a total of £22,000, in the Greater Manchester area.

She said that when McAuslin, of Wales Road, Kiveton Park, Sheffield, had gone into the Ripon bank on March 22 and asked to draw £1,000 on a card in the name of Claire Louise Collins, and had produced a driving licence in the same name and containing her photograph.

But after staff refused to hand over cash and called police, both documents were found to be fakes.

McAuslin's solicitor, Richard Buchanan, urged the magistrates to retain the case for sentence, but court chairman David Uffindall said he believed summary sentencing powers - a maximum of six months in prison - was insufficient.

He sent McAuslin to York Crown Court for sentence during the week beginning June 6 and remanded her in custody in the meantime.