A DRUG driver who chose to get in his car after receiving a distressed phone call from his partner's daughter has been disqualified from driving for a year.

Allun Hooper, 38, of Wessington Drive, Hereford, pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle with a proportion of a specified controlled drug above the specified limit at Hereford Magistrates Court last week.

Owen Beale, prosecuting, said that on November 26, Hooper was driving on Folly Lane when he was stopped by police who could smell cannabis. He was candid enough to say he had smoked it a few hours before he was stopped and was tested, arrested and taken to the police station.

He produced a small amount of cannabis to the officers at that point and a sample was taken from him.

It was sent for analysis and showed 2.4 micrograms of Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol in his blood. The legal limit is 2 micrograms.

Marilena Divitantonio, defending, said Hooper had no intention to drive that evening but had received a call to say his partner's daughter was having an asthma attack. His partner could not drive so he made the decision to go out.

It was clearly not appropriate and he accepted that, she said.

Magistrates fined Hooper £140, ordered him to pay £135 costs as well as a £30 victim surcharge.