A van driver caught by police running a red light without wearing a seatbelt has been banned from the roads for more than a year for drug driving.

Christopher Daniel Rogers, 34, pleaded guilty to driving with cannabis in his system when he appeared in the dock at Welshpool Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, October 15.

PC Bufton spotted him driving a blue Mercedes Sprinter van along Llanidloes Road towards Nantoer Bridge where he drove through red traffic lights on April 11.

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A blood test found that he had 2.8 microgrammes of the illegal drug delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, a metabolite of cannabis, which was over the legal 2mcgm limit.

The Sarn man was given a driving ban for 17 months and ordered to pay the court £1,135 which includes a £750 fine.

Robert Hanratty, acting on behalf of Rogers, told the court: "He was barely moving as he was putting his seatbelt on. The van was in situ dropping a person off when PC Bufton came over.

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"The defendant would admit that he smokes cannabis. It stays in the system a lot longer than alcohol.

"Driving has been an important part of his life and clearly any period spent off the road will be clearly felt because he lives in a rural area and works away from the area."

Chair of the magistrates' bench Anthony Jackson said that despite there being no pattern of offending, the aggravating factors they took into account that Rogers, of Springfields, was going through a red light and not wearing a seatbelt.