A “blind” man receiving a disability allowance for over a decade has been busted after cops caught him driving his car and he now has to pay back EUR 160,000 in benefits.

Italy’s Guardia di Finanza (financial police) stopped the 64-year-old, whose initials have been given as M.A., as he drove his car in the southern Italian town of Strongoli.

Footage shows how officers film the diminutive, portly man as he gets into his yellow hatchback and drives off before stopping him and questioning him while looking over his documentation.

The man, who was born in 1954, had been claiming disability allowance every month since 2011 on the pretext that he was completely blind.

Following an investigation, the Guardia di Finanza found that the man led a completely normal life and even regularly drove a car.

They had first found evidence of wrongdoing when officers found his name in a database of disability allowance recipients and also found his name in a database of driving licence holders.

A judge has now ordered the EUR 160,000 (GBP 137,728) he had received in disability pension and disability allowance payments to be repaid to the National Institute for Social Security.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office also ordered the seizure of property, furniture and financial assets totalling that amount from the fraudster.

He is also expected to go on trial for fraud and will have to shell out further money for his legal fees.