A DRUG-driver 'had really gone off the rails' when he was caught behind the wheel in Hereford, a court has heard.

Leon John Llewellyn entered a guilty plea when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford on January 6.

The 29-year-old had been spotted driving a Vauxhall Astra in Hereford's Eign Street at 6pm on July 16, prosecutor Mark Hambling said.

Officers decided to pull him over for a document check, but Llewellyn was arrested after failing a roadside drug test.

Evidential blood tests in custody showed he had 19 microgrammes of cocaine and 166 microgrammes of cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine per litre of blood. The respective legal limits are 10 and 50.

The court heard Llewellyn has already been banned from driving for a similar offence.

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Chris Read, for Llewellyn, said he accepted he had used cocaine and that his body was clearly still in the process of breaking the substance down.

"The situation back in the middle of last year was that he had really gone off the rails," Mr Read said.

"Until last year, it was 15 years since he had been before the court, and he committed this offence before he was aware that he was going to be charged for the other matter. He has now accepted that he has a problem, and has sought help from Addaction.

"He normally works in the restaurant industry and it has not been a great year. He had started a new job before lockdown, but when the restaurant had to close, he had not been employed there long enough to qualify for furlough."

Llewellyn, of Oban Way, Hereford, was disqualified from driving for 30 months and fined £120. He must also pay costs of £135 and a £34 victim surcharge.