A DRUGS driver caught for the second time in five years has been banned from driving for 36 months by Skipton magistrates.

Richard Dewhurst, 30, a self employed joiner, was stopped by police on December 9 on Station Road, Cross Hills, because the MOT on his Ford Transit had expired.

Asked if he had been smoking cannabis, he admitted he had, and a road side test proved positive. He was taken to the police station for a blood test which was later revealed to have 2.1 microgrammes of cannabis by product delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in one litre of blood, the legal limit is two.

Dewhurst, who admitted driving while over the specified drug limit, was previously convicted in 2014 for driving while unfit through drugs when he received a year ban.

The court heard in mitigation that Dewhurst would not be able to work without his licence and that it would impact on all his family. He had been fully co operative with the police and had admitted straight away smoking cannabis.

Dewhurst, of Howden Road, Silsden, in addition to the three year driving ban, was fined £276 and ordered to pay a surcharge of £30 and costs of £85.