A TEENAGER has been banned from the roads after he was caught drug-driving in a Hereford residential street.

Haydon Aitchison admitted drug-driving when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford.

Aitchison had been pulled over after police spotted him behind the wheel of a red Rover Metro in Hereford's Green Street at 2.55am on August 30, prosecutor Eleanor Peart said.

The 19-year-old was arrested after failing a roadside drug test, and an evidential blood test in custody revealed he had seven microgrammes of cannabis metabolite delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol per litre of blood, three and a half times the legal limit of two.

Philip Cornell, for Aitchison, said the teenager is currently on a gap year and is choosing universities after studying at the art college.

"This conviction might have a silver lining, because he is a sensible and intelligent young man" Mr Cornell said.

"He stopped using cannabis at Christmas and now does not use it at all.

"He said to me at the time this happened that he was using it fairly regularly and it was part of his life, but it is not any more. I think that is a good thing, and things look better for him now than they did then.

"He was very cooperative with the police and he has not mucked anybody around."

Aitchison, of Pembridge, Leominster, was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined £120. He must also pay costs of £135 and a £34 victim surcharge.