A coach driver has admitted possessing cannabis after a passenger reported him for allegedly smoking the drug before taking the wheel.

Azad Ali Malik, 42, was arrested at Hall Place in Bexley after driving a tour coach with 79 passengers all the way from Skegness – a 150-mile journey which takes around three hours.

Malik stopped off at the Tudor mansion at 6.34pm on November 10 last year and was due to drive on to Victoria to finish the journey but police were called after a passenger accused him of not being in a fit state to drive.

At Inner London Crown Court today Malik admitted one charge of possessing cannabis, but pleaded not guilty to driving while unfit through drugs.

Judge Usha Karu referred him back to Bexley Magistrates’ Court for trial on that charge on a date which has yet to be set.

Malik, of Ferrers Avenue, West Drayton in Middlesex, was given bail.