A WOMAN has been banned from the roads after smoking a "one-off" cannabis joint to relieve her anxiety.

Eleanor Rose Baigent admitted drug-driving when she appeared before magistrates in Hereford on October 14.

Prosecutor Ralph Robyns Landricombe told the court that police had been on patrol on Hereford's Westfaling Street at around 10.20pm on April 19 when they spotted Baigent driving a Ford Focus.

They decided to pull her over, and a roadside drug test showed she was positive for cannabis.

Baigent was arrested and taken to Hereford Police Station, where an evidential test revealed she had 6.4 microgrammes of cannabis metabolite delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol per litre of blood. The legal limit is two.

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Marilena Di Vitantonio, for retail worker, Baigent, said the 31-year-old was not a regular cannabis user.

"On this occasion, she had smoked it nine hours before being stopped, and says it was a one-off" Miss Di Vitantonio said.

"She had been very anxious and someone had offered her this cigarette and she smoked it.

"The problem is the way it remains in the system. She says she felt OK to drive."

Baigent, of Longmeadow, Hereford, was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined £175. She must also pay costs of £135 and a £34 victim surcharge.