A VAN driver has been banned from the roads after he was caught drug-driving in a busy Hereford street.

Vincenzo Renato Monte entered a guilty plea when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford.

Police had come across Monte as he drove along Ledbury Road in Hereford in a Ford Transit on January 19, prosecutor Elizabeth Blacklock said.

Monte was stopped and asked to take a roadside drug test, which returned a positive result for cannabis.

He was arrested and taken to Hereford police station, where a blood sample revealed he had 4.5 microgrammes of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol per litre of blood. The legal limit is two.

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Chris Read, for Monte, said the 33-year-old had come to the attention of police because his van was coming up on their computer as being uninsured.

"He had renewed the insurance the day before, but technology had not caught up," Mr Read said.

"That is the only reason he came to their attention, but he, along with many others, has fallen foul of the rules as he was not aware that cannabis would stay in his system for as long as it did. He used it the day before and thought it would have left his system, but science has proven him wrong."

The court heard Monte works as a mobile car valeter and would not be able to work as a result of a mandatory roads ban,

Monte, of Saltmarsh Castle, Bromyard, was fined £120 and disqualified from driving for 12 months. He must also pay costs of £135 and a £34 victim surcharge.