A HEREFORD man has been banned from the roads after taking cocaine.

Paul Bishop admitted driving while over the drug limit when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford.

Police had been on patrol in Hoarwithy Road when they spotted Bishop driving a Volkswagen Golf on March 28, prosecutor Ralph Robyns Landricombe said.

Bishop was stopped and asked to take a roadside drug test after officers became concerned that he was pale and his pupils were restricted while speaking to him.

He was taken into custody after it returned a positive result for cocaine, and an evidential sample revealed he had 443 microgrammes of cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine and 14 microgrammes of cocaine per litre of blood. The legal limits are 50 and 10.

Chris Read, for Bishop, said the 57-year-old had been pulled over in a routine traffic stop and that there had been no criticism of his driving.

"He used cocaine on the Friday night and then did not drive during Saturday believing that by Sunday the cocaine would have long gone from his system, but unfortunately he did not understand it stays in the system for a considerable amount of time and has fallen foul of that.

"He has not been in trouble for some 15 years."

Bishop, of Newtown Road, Hereford, was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined £120. He must also pay costs of £135 and a £34 victim surcharge.