A CARLISLE drug-driver stopped after police saw him pass through a red light has been handed a lengthy ban despite a desperate plea for leniency.

Thirty-year-old Rhys Davis was pulled over in the early hours of Christmas Eve in the city.

Prosecutor George Shelley told magistrates it was 4-45am when two PCs on mobile patrol saw Davis’s Ford Focus stationary at traffic lights on Shaddongate.

“Officers observed it turning on to James Street, they say contravening a red light, and duly stopped the vehicle,” said Mr Shelley.

When they spoke to Davis, police could smell cannabis from within the Focus.

READ MORE: Four Albanians jailed after £388k cannabis farm is found in bookies

He failed a roadside test, was taken into custody and a blood specimen was taken. This was analysed and showed Davis was just over the legal driving limit for the main psychoactive ingredient of the class B drug.

The Carlisle court heard he had been given a 12-month ban for drug-driving in 2015.

After he entered a guilty plea to the same charge following the December 24 offence, Davis was told a mandatory three-year ban had to be imposed due to him committing two copycat crimes in less than a decade.

“Any chance you would be able to give a two-year ban?” asked Davis as he addressed magistrates, “due to it (his previous crime) being so long ago.”

Davis, of Andover Avenue, Newham, London, said he was a dad who had been a professional driver.

Magistrates said they would consider government-imposed sentencing guidelines when imposing his punishment. They gave Davis a three-year ban and £120 fine plus costs.