A MAN from Hereford was caught drug driving by police after smoking a joint.

41-year-old Tom Collins said he had smoked the joint to help him sleep the night before he got behind the wheel of a Renault Clio. He pleaded guilty to drug driving but said he didn't realise he was over the limit.

West Mercia Police stopped him when he was driving in Hereford's Folly Lane, and they could smell cannabis. He had 3.4 micrograms of the controlled drug Delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol in his blood. The limit is two micrograms.

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He told Hereford Magistrates Court on November 29: "I didn't think I was over the limit. I don't smoke normally so I didn't know. I made a mistake and I'm very sorry.

"There are consequences for every mistake you make and I understand that, but my licence is very important to me."

But the court's legal advisor responded: "Magistrates have no choice. They have to disqualify you from driving."

Collins was disqualified from driving for 12 months, fined £80, and ordered to pay £80 court costs and a £32 surcharge.