MAGISTRATES have banned a drug driver from getting behind the wheel for three years.

On Saturday, March 5, 2022, John Carroll, of Worting Road, Basingstoke, drove a Golf on the M3 northbound at Hook with 2.5ug/100ml of Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol in his blood - the legal limit is two. 

The 38-year-old pleaded not guilty to the offence in 2022 but was found guilty on Monday, January 1, this year. 

In the same year on Saturday, April 9 at he also drove a Mercedes on the A331 Blackwater Valley Road in Frimley with 3.8ug of the same drug.

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He pleaded not guilty to this offence in 2023 but was found guilty on the same date as the other offence. 

During a hearing held at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, April 10 he was sentenced for both.

Magistrates disqualified him from driving for three years and ordered him to comply with a community order including rehabilitation activity.

A fine of £124 must also be paid as well as £500 court costs.