A Sunderland motorist who confessed to police at the roadside that he had used cannabis later found himself in double drug trouble, a court heard.

Harry Tennick, 22, admitted to an officer patrolling in Kenton Grove, Roker, on Saturday, September 13, that he had used the prohibited class B substance.

But Tennick, of Ashberry Grove, Monkwearmouth, had also taken cocaine two days earlier, his solicitor conceded to magistrates in South Tyneside.

He was arrested after making his cannabis admission and the breakdown products of both drugs showed up at illegal levels in an evidential blood test at a police station.

Prosecutor Jonathan Moore said: “An officer was on duty on Ashberry Grove, and the defendant was in a car, and he got out.

“He spoke to the officer and was asked if he had taken drugs. He said, ‘Cannabis’.

“He was taken to the police station, where the procedure was carried out and blood taken.”

Tennick, who has no previous convictions and was driving a Nissan Micra, pleaded guilty to two counts of drug driving.

He gave a reading in blood for cocaine breakdown product BZE of 378mcg. The legal limit is 50mcg.

And his reading in blood for cannabis breakdown product THC was not less than 5.1mcg, the legal limit being 2mcg.

Chris Wilson, defending, said: “The defendant, when spoken to by police, immediately admitted that he had taken drugs – he never denied that.

“Effectively, he was spoken to about another matter and during that discussion, this matter came out of it.

“He’s suffered from anxiety and depression and has used cannabis for that but two days earlier, he had used cocaine.

“He’s a young man who has some issues and is working to address that. There were no aggravating factors.

“There is no suggestion that the manner of driving was impaired. The police saw him and spoke to him on another matter. He’s entitled to maximum credit.”

Magistrates banned Tennick from driving for a year and fined him £120, with £85 court costs and a £48 victim surcharge.

Mohammed Ismail, chair of the bench, told him he was being given credit for having no previous convictions.