A BRADFORD driver stopped by police in North Yorkshire had been smoking cannabis, heard Skipton Magistrates Court.

Bilal Hussain, 24, was also driving a Volkswagen Golf with a bald rear offside tyre, the court was told.

Hussain, who in November denied drugs driving and using a car with the cord exposed on a tyre, was found guilty of both charges in his absence after he failed to turn up for his trial.

TC Andrew Ingram, who was on duty at the time with a fellow officer, told the court Hussain was heading in the direction of Steeton when he was stopped on the A629 at Kildwick at around 2.30am on September 18.

He noticed a smell of cannabis coming from the car, so carried out a preliminary road side drugs test that proved positive for cannabis.

He said he noticed at the time that the cord was exposed for the entire inside of the rear offside tyre.

Hussain was arrested and taken to Harrogate Police Station for a blood drugs test. It later revealed he had 3.4 microgrammes of cannabis substance, Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in one litre of blood. The legal limit is two microgrammes.

Magistrates found Hussain, of Moorside, Daisy Hill, Bradford, guilty to both charges in his absence. They adjourned sentencing for him to be present and issued a warrant without bail for his arrest.