A HEREFORD man has been banned from the roads after he was caught behind the wheel while five times the limit.

Freddy Kenyon admitted drug-driving when he appeared before magistrates.

He had also admitted driving without insurance or a licence at an earlier hearing, the court heard.

Kenyon had been stopped behind the wheel of a Ford Transit van in Hereford's Station Approach on October 15, prosecutor Mark Hambling said.

The 22-year-old, who was not insured to drive the van and was not displaying L plates, admitted to police that he only held a provisional licence.

Kenyon was again stopped in Hereford, this time driving a Ford Connect van, in St Owen Street at 3.20pm on May 5, and was taken into custody after failing a roadside drug test.

An evidential blood test revealed he had 10 microgrammes of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol per litre of blood. The legal limit is two.

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Chris Read, for Kenyon, said he had been driving his employer's van and had been accompanied by a qualified driver when he was stopped in October.

"You would expect that was insured by the employer," Mr Read said.

"He had come to the attention of police in May because of a broken brake light. The rest, as they say, is history. He provided a positive test and tells me he used cannabis the day before and had no idea that having smoked it 24 hours earlier it would still be in his system. It is a hard lesson to learn."

The court heard that Kenyon, whose work took him all over the country, has lost his job as a result of the mandatory roads ban the offence carries.

Kenyon, of Turner Street, Hereford, was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined a total of £280. He must also pay costs of £135 and a £34 victim surcharge.

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