Gardener Lee Colin Jones, described as an occasional cannabis user, has been banned from driving for a year after he admitted a drug-driving charge.

Jones, 28, of Fairfield Road in Queensferry, Deeside, was stopped by police just at midnight on New Year’s Eve as he drove a Vauxhall Astra along the A550 at Dobshill.

Police believed he was driving at an excessive speed and saw it cross the centre white lines, said prosecutor John Wylde.

When stopped, he was anxious and admitted that he had earlier smoked cannabis and that he had some on him.

At Flintshire Magistrates Court at Mold he admitted possessing the class B drug, and driving with 10 miligrammes of a cannaboid drug in his blood compared to the legal limit of two.

He was banned from driving for a year and fined £215 with £85 costs and a £30 surcharge.

Chris Jesse, defending, said his client was an occasional user of cannabis.

He had been advised that he would have to be disqualified from driving whether he liked it or not.

Jones worked full-time as a gardener in Malpas, Cheshire and a driving disqualification would make things difficult for him, Mr Jesse explained.