ROME (AFP) - A 70 year-old Italian man who had been pretending to be blind for 40 years to get an invalid's pension was arrested as he drove his car, Sky TG24 television said Thursday.

The "particularly nervous" man was stopped during a routine road check in the northern city of Spezia and could not provide a driving licence, city police chief Massimo Giaramita said.

"Then we checked his medical record and were amazed to find that he was registered as 100 percent blind," Giaramita said.0

He had been claiming an invalidity pension and other benefits from his former employers for 40 years, the report said.