diff --git a/system/drivers/DB_mysql.php b/system/drivers/DB_mysql.php
index 18c080b..82e677a 100644
--- a/system/drivers/DB_mysql.php
+++ b/system/drivers/DB_mysql.php
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@
 	 * @param	string	an SQL query
 	 * @return	string
 	 */	
-    function &_prep_query($sql)
+    function _prep_query($sql)
     {
 		// "DELETE FROM TABLE" returns 0 affected rows This hack modifies 
 		// the query so that it returns the number of affected rows