A 30-year-old man from Taunton has been disqualified from driving for 32 months and fined after admitting charges of driving while under the influence of drugs and speeding at 122mph on the M5 in Somerset.

Robert James White was stopped by officers near Junction 23 as he was travelling southbound on 17 March 2021.

He was travelling back from Wales after getting a haircut, despite a second lockdown being in place in England at the time.

White admitted the charges at a previous hearing and was sentenced at Taunton Deane Magistrates' Court on Thursday 2 December.

In addition to the disqualification, he was fined £120 and ordered to pay £85 court costs and a £34 victim surcharge. At the time of the incident, he was given a fixed penalty notice for the breach of COVID regulations.

PC Owen Davies, of the Roads Policing Unit, said: "White's driving on that day was reckless in the extreme. Not only was he driving at 122mph in a 70mph zone, but he was also under the influence of drugs at the time. If he'd been involved in a collision while driving at that speed, it would have resulted in catastrophic consequences.

"At the time of the offence, a second national lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 was in place in England, with people urged to stay at home – all this makes his actions even more reprehensible."