CANNABIS worth £600 found under the driver’s seat of a car was judged to be for personal use, a court heard.

Shehzan Hussain, of Broadhurst Court, Daubhill, was driving his uncle’s Volkswagen Scirocco when he was pulled over for driving erratically.

Shazia Aslam, prosecuting, told Bolton magistrates that the 22-year-old, who was not insured, was stopped on Gibraltar Street at around 3.30pm on October 23 last year.

When Hussain got out of the car police noticed an overwhelming smell of cannabis and asked him to provide a roadside saliva sample.

The officer then searched the car and found a black bag underneath the driver’s seat containing 60 snap bags of cannabis, worth an estimated £600.

Police were satisfied that this was for personal use as Hussain had no money in the car and there were no messages from his phone that would indicate intent to supply.

After completing a blood test at Bury Police Station, 8.4 microgrammes of Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol was found per litre of Hussain’s blood — more than four times the legal limit.

Stephen Teasdale, defending, said; "He doesn't accept that he was driving erratically and he thought that he was covered to drive his uncle's car, but he wasn't."

He added that Hussain was a “heavy cannabis user” and that he often bought five to six bags per day.

The court heard that Hussain was employed until recently and received a a lump sum when his contract was terminated, which he spend on cannabis.

He pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle with a proportion of a specified controlled drug above the specified limit, possessing cannabis and using a vehicle on a road without insurance.

Hussain was disqualified from driving for 12 months and given an eight-week curfew between the hours of 7pm and 7am.

Magistrates also ordered that the drugs be forfeited and destroyed and Hussain was told that he must also pay £85 in court costs plus an £85 victim surcharge.