A WELL-KNOWN Winchester High Street figure has been caught drug driving.

Kevin Collick, 49, was stopped by the police on Worthy Lane in Winchester on December 17 last year, a court heard.

Collick, of Fraser Road, Kings Worthy, who has sold the Big Issue on city streets for many years, was breath tested and returned a reading of 3.5ug/l for cannabis when the legal limit is 2ug/l, meaning he was nearly double the legal limit. He admitted the charge when he appeared at Basingstoke Magistrates Court on Tuesday April 4.

Magistrates in Basingstoke imposed a 12-month driving disqualification, a £150 fine and a £60 victim surcharge. There was no order for costs. The magistrates ordered the financial penalties must be paid by May 3.

Collick's departure from Winchester early this year was widely noted. He had split opinion with not everyone enjoying the almost continuous and widely-aimed mickey-taking.

In 2017 he was chosen by a public poll to switch on the Christmas lights in Winchester and raised money for charity every Christmas and Children in Need.

Local graffitti artist Hendog featured him in a mural at the bus station off Friarsgate.

After experiencing a period of homelessness Collick has sold the Big Issue magazine in the city for more than 20 years.

The Big Issue declined to comment last month when he left Winchester except to say that he had moved to another county and was still selling the magazine.