A cocaine-taking welder was more than seven times the drug-drive limit when he crashed his van to avoid colliding with a school bus.

Harry Collinson, 33, swerved to miss the double-decker after rounding a tight corner on the A260 at Denton, and instead struck a roadside bollard as he mounted a grass verge.

As he got out to inspect the damage, a passing Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) stopped to help, but suspected Collinson was under the influence.

Officers were called and found the dad-of-two’s speech was slurred and his eyes were red and glazed.

He passed a roadside breath test but tested positive for cocaine on a drug swipe.

A subsequent blood test revealed he had 356 micrograms of the cocaine byproduct benzoylecgonine per litre of blood in his system - the legal limit is 50.

Collinson, of Woodfield Close in Folkestone, admitted drug-driving when he appeared at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on Friday, May 9.

Elizabeth Evans, prosecuting, said: “He was off the road in his Mercedes van as it had hit a plastic bollard.

“A PCSO came along the road and pulled over to assist, and thought his eyes were glazed and called PC colleagues out.

“Officers also thought his eyes were glazed and red and he had slow speech and was slurring.

“There were obvious signs of impairment.”

The court heard the crash happened on October 27 last year.

Emma Wright, defending, said Collinson had a previous conviction for driving without insurance in 2012, but no similar offences.

She said: “He had been going to work, but there are country lanes in Denton and a school bus was coming the other way, so he moved over to the grass verge - that’s when he hit the bollard and that’s when the police turned up.”

Ms Wright said Collinson had taken cocaine but it was “making its way out of his system”.

She added that he had been a welder for 20 years but would lose his job as a result of being stripped of his licence.

Addressing magistrates directly, Collinson said he had taken “the smallest amount” of cocaine at about 5pm the day before the incident.

As magistrates retired to consider his sentence, Collinson was spotted filming the courtroom on his phone by a police officer present for another case.

The court clerk was informed and Collinson was ordered to delete the footage.

He apologised, telling the court “his wife had wondered what the courtroom was like, so he had taken the video to show her”.

Magistrates imposed a 12-month community order with 80 hours of unpaid work.

Collinson was also banned from driving for 20 months and must pay a £114 victim surcharge and £85 in court costs. He was ordered to pay the full amount within two months.