A Roch drug-driver has been banned from the road for a year.

Arron Yarker, of Ocean Drive, pleaded guilty to driving while over the controlled drug limit when he appeared before Haverfordwest magistrates on Tuesday, February 18.

Vaughan Pritchard-Jones, prosecuting, said police stopped Yarker’s Citroen Saxo as part of a routine spot check on the A4076 at Merlins Bridge, Haverfordwest, at around 11am on September 18.

“The officer could smell cannabis from within the vehicle.”

Yarker, 27, told officers he had smoked the drug the previous night.

Tom Lloyd, defending, said there was no evidence of bad driving, adding that Yarker complied fully at the scene and the reading was ‘extremely low’.

Mr Lloyd told the court that father-of-three Yarker had vowed to turn his life around.

“He is a family man who is desperate to get back into employment, and losing his licence will hinder that.”

Magistrates ordered Yarker to pay £237 in a fine, costs and surcharge.

He was banned from driving for 12 months.