A 37-year-old Cinderford man has been banned from driving for three and a half years after he was caught asleep at the wheel of a car with an illegal level of cocaine in his bloodstream.

James Hale of Belle Vue Road pleaded guilty at Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court on January 7 to driving a Ford Fiesta on the A4151 between Elton Corner and Littledean on April 26th last year with excess benzoylecgnonine (a cocaine metabolite) in his blood.

He also admitted that he was already disqualified from driving at the time and that he had no third party insurance.

The magistrates fined him £120 and ordered him to pay £25 costs and a £95 victim services surcharge.

He was banned from driving for 42 months and placed on a 12 months community order with rehabilitation activity requirements.

The magistrates said the penalty reflected the fact that it was a serious offence, Hale had been asleep at the wheel, and he had previous similar convictions.