A DRUG driver has been jailed after he was caught 16 times over the limit for "cocaine".

Joseph Falcon, 35, from Barry, was stopped by police when he was spotted driving “erratically” in the town.

He was pulled over in Hunter Street just before 8pm on November 21, 2021, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

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Nicholas Gedge, prosecuting, said: “PC Michael Jordan was on patrol when he saw a Fiat Punto being driven in an erratic manner.

“The car was being driven by the defendant who had an expired provisional licence.

“He was also not displaying any L plates.”

After learner driver Falcon was taken into custody, he tested positive as having both cocaine and cannabis derivatives in his blood.

The defendant gave a reading that was exactly 16 times over the limit for benzoylecgonine and he was just over the limit for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol.

Falcon, of Subway Road, pleaded guilty to two counts of drug driving, driving without a licence and driving without insurance.

These offences put him in breach for a suspended prison sentence imposed in May 2021 for assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Mr Gedge added how Falcon had eight previous convictions for 12 offences which included one for drink driving from 2009.

Derrick Gooden, mitigating, said: “The defendant made a poor error of judgement.”

He asked the court to take into account his client’s guilty pleas and pointed out these fresh offences were dissimilar to the one he was sentenced for last May.

Sentencing him, Judge Hywel James told Falcon: “You were 16 times over the legal limit.

“You represented a danger to other road users with the amount of drugs in your system.”

He jailed the defendant for six months and banned him from driving for 21 months.

Falcon was also ordered to pay a surcharge after his release from prison.