A DRUG-DRIVER was caught behind the wheel as he took his wife's car to the garage, a court has heard.

Mark Taylor admitted driving while over the drug limit, driving without insurance, and possessing cannabis when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford.

Police had been carrying out checks on vehicles in Leominster when they spotted Taylor driving a Ford Fiesta in Portna Way on December 9.

Taylor, who police said smelled of cannabis, was pulled over and arrested after failing a roadside drug test. A document check revealed he was uninsured, while a search revealed a quantity of cannabis in the car.

An evidential blood test in custody revealed he had 300 microgrammes of amphetamines per litre of blood. The legal limit is 200.

In interview, Taylor admitted having no insurance and said the cannabis belonged to him.

Edmund Middleton, for Taylor, said the unemployed 41-year-old was suffering from mental health problems.

"He has already lost his licence for three years at an earlier hearing and he accepts his guilt," Mr Middleton said.

"He was driving that day because his wife struggled to put air in the tyres of the car and she asked him to go to the garage to do it. They thought he would be insured, but it turned out that he was not."

Taylor, of Portna Way, Leominster, was handed a further three-year driving ban, which will run concurrently to his current ban, fined £120, and must pay a £34 victim surcharge. No costs order was imposed.