A DRIVER stopped by police as he drove into a Skipton car park was over the drugs-drive limit, heard magistrates.

Thomas Hall, 27, was on his way into Cavendish Street Car Park in a Ford Fiesta during the afternoon of December 20 when he was stopped by police, the Skipton court heard.

There was a smell of cannabis and police found a drug grinder in his car.

He tested positive at the roadside for drugs and was arrested and taken to the police station where he provided a blood test. It revealed he had no less than 2.5 microgrammes of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (the active ingredient of cannabis) per litre of blood, the legal limit is two.

Hall, of Burnside Crescent, who admitted drugs-driving pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and was co-operative with police. He was a single man who worked in the building trade, but was currently unemployed. He was banned from driving for 12 months, fined £120, with costs of £85 and surcharge of £20.