An uninsured drug-driver from south Farnham found himself under arrest after pulling his overloaded van into a petrol station where a police officer was doing paperwork.

Guildford Magistrates Court heard that Shane Tyson was nearly nine times over the drug-drive limit when he tested positive for cocaine on March 9.

The 42-year-old of Greenfield Road, Wrecclesham, caught the attention of police when he pulled his flat-bed Renault Master van into the BP petrol station on Portsmouth Road in Hindhead.

An officer noticed a broken brake light and unstable load before asking Tyson to provide a roadside sample of saliva. The defendant was arrested after testing positive for cocaine by-product BZE with the reading showing 435 micrograms per litre of blood, with 50/100 being the legal limit.

“The officer was doing paperwork in the petrol station when he witnessed the van drive in,” said the prosecution on Friday (October 2).

“The load it was carrying was insecure and the vehicle also had a defective brake light.

“The defendant was then requested to provide a roadside sample of saliva and the drug swipe indicated positive for cocaine.”

The court heard in mitigation that Tyson pleaded guilty to drug-driving and three other motoring counts at the first opportunity and was fully co-operative at the roadside and police station.

Tyson, who had just completed a garden clearance with a friend, also fully accepted he was drug-driving and didn’t secure the load correctly.

The defendant was given a mandatory 12-month driving ban by magistrates and fined £120, reduced from £180 because of his early guilty plea.

He was also ordered to pay £85 costs and a £48 victim surcharge, with no separate penalty being imposed for driving without insurance, driving a vehicle with a defective brake light, and driving with an insecure load.