Shrewsbury van driver who had cocaine in his system ordered to go to rehab

Michael Armes, aged 53, was caught in a Ford Connect van on Mount Pleasant Road, Harlescott, Shrewsbury on May 18 this year.

A drug test found he had 395 microgrammes of benzolecgonine - a cocaine by-product - per litre of blood. The legal limit, accounting for accidental exposure, is 50mcg.

Armes, of Castle Gates, Shrewsbury, pleaded guilty to a count of driving a motor vehicle with a controlled drug above the specified limit.

Magistrates banned him from driving for 40 months and ordered him to do a drug rehabilitation programme for six months. The drugs programme is part of a 12-month community order, which also requires Armes to do 100 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation activity days.

Armes must also pay £135 in prosecution costs and a £114 victim surcharge.