A TEENAGER 'made a diabolical mistake' when he got behind the wheel after taking a class A drug.

James Cashmore entered guilty pleas to two charges of drug-driving when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford in December.

Police had stopped the teenager behind the wheel of a Chevrolet after noticing that he had a broken light in Hereford's Belmont Road at 3am on September 17, prosecutor Eleanor Peart said.

He was asked to take a roadside drug test, which returned a positive result for cocaine.

An evidential blood test taken in custody revealed he had more than 800 microgrammes of class A controlled drug cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine and 65 microgrammes of cocaine per litre of blood. The legal limits are 50 and 10 microgrammes.

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Marilena Di Vitantonio, for Cashmore, said the 19-year-old is currently working as an apprentice but that he may not remain in that employment after a mandatory roads ban.

"He has his level one and is working towards his level two at the moment," she said.

"He fully accepts it was a stupid thing to do and wishes he could turn back the clock, not only for himself but also for family members who rely on him for transport. He described it as a diabolical mistake. He was not thinking straight at the time and took the cocaine in order to block out the issues he was struggling with at the time."

Cashmore, who is of Syers Croft, Clehonger, was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined £276. He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £135 and a £110 victim surcharge.

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