A DRIVER has been ordered to carry out unpaid work after he was caught committing multiple motoring offences.

John William Grindle admitted driving while disqualified, while over the drug limit, without a seat belt or valid MOT, and without proper control when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford.

Prosecutor Mark Hambling said Grindle had been driving a Ford Transit van on Holme Lacey Road at around 9.40am on May 25 when he was stopped by police for using a mobile phone behind the wheel.

The 46-year-old told police he had not been talking on the phone, claiming that it did not work, instead stating that he had been using it to find an address.

Officers at the scene noted Grindle was not wearing a seatbelt, and checks revealed his van's MOT had expired six months previously.

He was arrested after failing a roadside drug test and taken into custody, where further checks showed he was already disqualified from driving, and an evidential blood test revealed he had 98 microgrammes of cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine per litre of blood. The legal limit is 50.

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George Cousins, for Grindle, said he had recently found a new carpentry job close to his home after his previous work had dried up in February.

"He needed to move the timber for this to his house and did not want to tell his employers about his issues with driving," Mr Cousins said.

"So he got in his van and was stopped by police. The whole journey was only around 400 yards."

The court heard Grindle has ADHD and had been using cocaine to relax himself.

Grindle, of Withybrook Close, Hereford, was made subject to a 12 month community order and must complete 70 hours of unpaid work. He was disqualified from driving for three years and must pay costs of £50 and a £95 victim surcharge.