A HEREFORD man ate a chocolate brownie laced with cannabis prior to driving has been banned from the roads for three years.

Phillip Dodd, of Whitecross Road, was stopped by police on the A49 at Hope-under-Dinmore, near Leominster, on December 30 last year.

Hereford Magistrates Court heard that the 57-year-old had 7mg of Delta-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol, a primary active component of cannabis, in his blood. The legal limit is 2mg. 

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It was the second time in four years that Dodd had committed a drug-drive offence.

George Cousins, representing Dodd, said: "He pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and is a little upset on reflection of it.

"He stopped taking drugs and got his life back in order. He went to a party where he had alcohol and a chocolate brownie laced with cannabis.

"He didn't know it at the time, but he did know it at the time he was driving."

Dodd was also fined £200, and told to pay court costs of £135 and an £80 government surcharge.