AN Ilminster man who had been smoking cannabis before mounting a verge and ending up in a hedge has been handed a 20-month driving ban and ordered to complete 100 hours unpaid work.

Zak Burge was driving through Ilton with someone else in the passenger seat when he was spotted by police who saw him drive round a bend in the road at speed.

When they followed him they came across the vehicle and he was arrested after failing a drugs test, Somerset Magistrates were told.

Burge, 23, of Orchard Vale admitted charges of drug driving and driving without insurance on November 19 last year when he appeared in the dock at Yeovil.

Andrew Meadows, prosecuting, said the officers were on patrol in Ilton when they saw the defendant at the wheel of a Honda Civic on Cad Road.

“The car disappeared at speed round a bend in the road so they followed it and on approach found it had come to a stop on the verge and was partially in the hedge,” he said.

“The passenger had already got out of the car and the police saw Burge emerge from the driver’s seat.

“They did a roadside breath test which he passed but they noticed his speech was slurred, his eyes were glazed and he smelt of cannabis.”

He failed a drug swipe test and when taken into custody gave a reading over the drug drive limit for cannabis. He was also found to be uninsured.

Burge told the court that he was driving the vehicle from a unit ready to change the insurance the following day.

He was sentenced to the driving ban and given a 12-month community order with unpaid work and 15 Rehabilitation Activity days. He was also ordered to pay costs of £85 and a £114 victim surcharge.