A DRIVER has been banned from the road for taking the wheel after having taken cocaine.

Matthew Reed, 40, of Five Acres Rise, Over Wallop, was in a 05-reg Ford Focus when stopped by the police on Saxon Way, Andover, on September 20, a court heard.

When tested he registered 32 micrograms of cocaine per litre of blood when the legal limit is 10.

When tested for benzoylecgonine, a breakdown product of cocaine, his reading was more than 800 micrograms per litre of blood when the legal limit is 50.

Reed pleaded guilty to both charges at Basingstoke Magistrates Court.

Magistrates banned him from driving for three years, fined him £120 and ordered he pay £40 costs and a £34 victim surcharge.