A CANNABIS dealer who used his job as a takeaway delivery driver to sell drugs has been jailed.

Erhan Tepe, 34, flouted a driving ban to make his deliveries, York Crown Court heard.

Police stopped him on St Maurice's Road, central York, on January 14, said Rob Galley, prosecuting.

But instead of meals, officers found enough cannabis to fetch between £790 and £950 on the streets. They also found £1,005 in cash.

Police pulled him over because they knew he was a banned driver and knew he shouldn't be behind the wheel at all.

Then they smelt cannabis inside the car and searched it, said Mr Galley.

Tepe, of Carr Lane, Acomb, pleaded guilty to supplying cannabis and possessing cannabis with intent to supply it.

Jailing him for 19 months, Recorder Ian Harris said: "Make no mistake about it, cannabis is a dangerous drug and that is why a prison sentence for someone in your position is inevitable."

York Crown Court heard York magistrates had already given him 18 weeks' imprisonment for driving whilst disqualified.

The £1,005 he had on him was confiscated.

Kristian Cavanagh, defending, said Tepe had been motivated by greed, but had only made two or three deals a day to other drug dealers.

At the time, he had been a heavy cannabis himself, but had since kicked his habit.

While in prison serving his sentence for driving whilst disqualified, he had started training to be a barber and was hoping to make a career in hairdressing.

Mr Galley said although Tepe had been employed by a restaurant in Hull Road at the time of his arrest, he had not been working on the evening he was stopped.

Text messages on his two mobile phones revealed he had been dealing for at least two weeks. Police found scales at his home address when they searched it after finding the drugs in his car.