A PAINTER was caught drug-driving after being moved on from a carpark she was sleeping in.

Verity Lulay admitted drink-driving when she appeared before magistrates in Hereford.

Police had been on patrol in Hereford at around 10.30pm on April 8 when they spotted Lulay behind the wheel of a Ford Focus in Commercial Road, prosecutor Mark Hambling said.

They pulled her over in relation to another matter, but Lulay was arrested and taken into custody after failing a roadside drug test.

An evidential blood test in custody revealed Lulay, who was previously convicted of drug-driving in 2016, had 3.9 microgrammes of cannabis metabolite delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol per litre of blood. The legal limit is two.

George Cousins, for Lulay, said things had been up and down for the 31-year-old in the run up to her arrest.

"At the time she had just got a job in Hereford and had recently split up with her boyfriend and was sleeping in her car," he said.

"She was moved from the carpark she had been sleeping in and was looking for somewhere to park."

Mr Cousins said Lulay had been working as a painter and decorator but that a mandatory roads ban would mean she would lose her job and would have to claim benefits.

Lulay, of Ethelstan Crescent, Hereford, was disqualified from driving for three years and fined £120. She must also pay costs of £135 and a £34 victim surcharge.