WHEN AN OFF-DUTY police officer was queuing up to pay at a BP filling station he smelt cannabis from the man in front of him, a court heard.

He also noticed that the man’s eyes were glazed and bloodshot and so he followed the man in his car, Cheltenham magistrates were told.

“The car – a Ford Fiesta – was weaving all over the road and on one occasion causing an articulated lorry to swerve,” prosecuting lawyer May Li said.

The officer called colleagues and they found the car parked in a gateway off the A429 Fosseway at Stow-on-the-Wold, with the man sitting in the driver’s seat with two female passengers, the court heard.

Facing the court was 19-year-old Kieran Pyke-Turner of Berrington Road, Chipping Campden, who pleaded guilty to drug-driving on May 24.

Magistrates banned him from driving for 12 months, fined him £120 and ordered him to pay £40 towards prosecution costs.