A man caught drug driving without insurance in Highworth told the court it had 'slipped his mind'.

Christopher Malekides, of Lonsdale Close in Blunsdon, was driving his Seat along Highworth High Street on December 3, 2023, when he was pulled over by the police.

"There was no evidence of poor driving and the driver was pulled over for not having insurance," prosecutor Keith Ballinger told Swindon Magistrate's Court on May 1, 2024.

"But officers noticed the car smelled heavily of cannabis and in a blood sample, Mr Malekides had 6.6mg of Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (a molecule found in cannabis) per litre in his system, when the legal limit is 2mg."

Malekides had appeared in court just one month before the offence for driving over the drug limit, and he was banned from driving for a year in 2020 after driving over the cannabis limit on Thamesdown Drive.

"It wasn't a deliberate attempt to drive uninsured," pointed out defence lawyer Mr Jameson.

"As his insurance is so high, he has been insuring on a daily basis. He had driven with insurance the day before he was arrested and he says it just slipped his mind."

Malekides has been fined £240 for the two offences and charged a surcharge of £96 and court costs of £85.

He has also been disqualified from driving for 46 months.