A GROOM has been banned from the roads after taking cocaine.

Spencer Edward Tyers pleaded guilty to drug-driving when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford.

Police were on patrol in an unmarked car in Hereford's Daws Road when they saw a car being driven erratically and pulled it over, prosecutor Ralph Robyns Landricombe said.

Driver Tyers was asked to take a roadside drug test, and was arrested after it returned a positive result for cocaine.

A blood sample revealed he had 65 microgrammes of cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine per litre of blood. The legal limit is 50.

Philip Cornell, for Tyers, said the 45-year-old occasionally uses cocaine at social occasions but that he is not an addict.

"He holds down a very responsible job and is highly regarded," Mr Cornell said.

"He has been with the stable owners for the last 10 years as head groom."

The court heard a mandatory driving ban would make contact with family difficult for Tyers.

"He lives in a godforsaken part of Herefordshire where there is no public transport. This is a real punishment for him."

Tyers, of Monnington-on-Wye, Herefordshire, was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined £340. He must also pay costs of £135 and a £34 victim surcharge.