A SHOPKEEPER struggling with a secret cannabis habit has been banned from driving after police found him to be almost four times over the specified limit for a controlled drug.

Troy Paul, 37, of Shaftesbury Avenue, Swindon appeared before District Judge Simon Cooper at the town’s magistrates court on Wednesday and admitted a charge of driving while over the limit.

Crown prosecutor Pauline Lambert told that judge that at 20 minutes past midnight on March 31 this year police stopped Paul because his Volkswagen Passatt had a defective light.

Police could smell cannabis in the vehicle and Paul failed a roadside drug wipe. At the police station a blood test revealed 7.1 microgrammes of cannabis in his blood. The specified limit is 2 microgrammes.

Sambreen Arif, defending, said Paul had smoked cannabis about 10 hours before driving. He had a bit of a habit had been struggling with and had kept it secret from his family.

That night he had been at a friend’s house where cannabis had been smoked but not by him, which is possibly why police were able to smell the drug on this clothing, Miss Arif told the judge.

She said he was a law-abiding family man with children aged five and 19 months and the owner of a second-hand furniture shop, for which he had been struggling to pay the rent.

His job, Ms Arif said, involved driving to house clearances and auctions so he could find stock for the shop.

He had previously worked for 10 years with children with special needs. He was embarrassed and ashamed of his unfortunate issues with cannabis.

The judge told Paul: “You are a shop owner trying to make ends meet and look after your family. However you were four times over the limit and knew it was wrong which was why you kept it secret.”

Paul was disqualified from driving for 12 months, fined £120 and ordered to pay court costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £30.