POLICE chasing up reports of a nuisance quad bike rider in Gargrave were following him when a freezer bag of cannabis buds fell out of his pocket, heard Skipton Magistrates Court.

Officers had followed Nicholas Leigh onto Mark House Lane on June 2 when something fell out of his hooded top onto the track. After discovering what was in the bag, they went to a property in Neville Road where his partner lived with their children, the court heard on Friday.

Leigh, 30, of Thoresby House, Cavendish Road, Idle, Bradford, of previous good character, admitted the possession of a class B controlled drug and to the using of a quad bike without third party insurance.

In mitigation, John Mewies said Leigh had admitted to his employer what had happened and had lost his job as a result, but he was hoping to get it back.

The drugs, for personal use, had cost him £45 and he had not used cannabis since the incident, said Mr Mewies.

He had bought the quad bike for him and his children and had accepted he should not have been driving it on a public road without insurance.

He was fined £50 for the possession of the cannabis buds and for the no insurance, he was fined £120, and ordered to pay costs of £85 and a surcharge of £30. A forfeiture and destruction order was made on the drugs.