A MERCEDES driver has been banned from the roads after he was caught behind the wheel while over the drug-drive limit.

Vasyl Kvasniuk, admitted drug-driving when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford.

He was arrested after being stopped behind the wheel of a Mercedes E Class and failing a roadside drug test in Hereford's Commercial Road at 11.30pm on December 1, prosecutor Eleanor Peart said.

An evidential blood test taken in custody revealed he had 6.4 microgrammes of cannabis metabolite delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol per litre of blood. The legal limit is two.

Philip Cornell, for Kvasniuk, said the 32-year-old had been in the UK for the last four years, and has just returned to the country from Ukraine, where he got married before war broke out.

"He was working on the County Hospital at the time and he is a responsible person," Mr Cornell said.

"He is highly skilled and a reliable person. His cannabis use is off and on, and he knows it is illegal."

Kvasniuk, of Pinfold Avenue, Manchester, was fined £500 and disqualified from driving for 12 months. He must also pay costs of £135 and a £50 victim surcharge.