A HGV driver who drove his 44 tonne articulated lorry on the A40 in Haverfordwest while twice over the cocaine drug-drive limit has been sent to prison.

Former lorry driver, Keith Barker, admitted driving on the A40 at Clerkenhill with a cocaine by-product in his blood on September 5 last year.

Police had pulled Barker’s Iveco HGV over and after speaking to him took a drug swipe that tested positive for cocaine. A subsequent blood test showed he had more than twice the legal limit of cocaine in his system.

Haverfordwest Magistrates heard that Baker, of Station Walks, Newcastle Under Lyme, has two other matters recorded against him of a similar nature.

Last October he had been handed down a 12-month community order and lost his driving licence after admitting another drug driving offence at a different court.

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The court heard that this included 80 hours of unpaid work. Although he had completed 43 hours of the unpaid work hours, he had breached the order twice and also had one warning concerning his behaviour.

Defence solicitor, David Williams, said that his client found unpaid work difficult and did not like it and that ‘he would not want to do any more unpaid work’.

A report by the probation service said that Barker had had a ‘negative’ childhood, having been put in foster care at the age of ten. He had lived with 37 different families thereafter.

He had begun to behave criminally as a teenager and was currently on medication for ADHD, which had been diagnosed six years ago.

He did not think that he had a problem with drug misuse, but would take cocaine after going out drinking with friends.

On this occasion he had taken cocaine on the Friday but believed that he was fit to drive the following Monday.

“Driving a 44 tonne HGV with cocaine in your system has increased the seriousness of this offence,” said the magistrates.

“This is also your third conviction for drug driving in a three-year period, this is an aggravating factor. We find that this offence is so serious that it crosses the custody threshold”.

They added that they were aware that this offence predated the current court order, but that Barker had breached that order on two occasions and had said that he would not comply with another community order with requirements.

Magistrates handed down an immediate jail sentence of 16 weeks, reduced from 24 weeks due to Barker’s early guilty plea.

They revoked the current community order, replacing it with a 12-week prison sentence to run concurrently.

Barker was further disqualified from driving for another three years and ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £154 victim surcharge.

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