A drug addict claims he has been arrested more than 30 times for repeatedly breaching his ASBO – because the order prevents him from attending probation appointments.

Callum Smith appeared at Cheltenham Magistrates' Court after police arrested him in Sandford Park on Tuesday because the terms of his anti-social behaviour order forbid him from visiting areas of Cheltenham town centre.

But the 20-year-old, who has a repeat prescription for methadone to combat his heroin addiction, said he had no choice but to breach the order because both his probation office and Cheltenham General Hospital fall within the restricted area.

Defending solicitor Graham Daniels said senior police officers had been forced to cut a deal with Smith after he had been arrested numerous times while keeping a probation appointment or picking up his prescription.

He said: "Mr Smith was eventually called in to the police station where a senior officer told him it was ridiculous for him to be arrested every time he comes in.

"This has happened several times before and Mr Smith says he has been arrested on at least 30 occasions since the ASBO was imposed."

Smith, who has now moved to Gloucester, said his latest arrest happened while he was making his way to the bus station from the hospital.

Mr Daniels told the court Smith had been arranging to transfer his prescription to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital to avoid breaching the ASBO in future.

He said: "He hopes now that he has moved to Gloucester that the problem will be solved."

Chairwoman of the bench Wendy Jotcham handed Smith a £65 fine, which was waived because he had already spent a day in custody.

She said: "A breach of an ASBO is a serious matter. However, we have listened carefully to the circumstances of this case and we feel you did not have very much choice about whether you entered the exclusion area."

A police spokesman said Smith's ASBO, granted in 2004, was amended last year when a judge renewed it, and he had only been arrested twice since then.

In conjunction with his solicitor, his ASBO coordinator reduced the prohibited area so he could easily access the bus station, probation office, his pharmacy, Trinity House and Cheltenham General.

"He can easily get to any of the appointments he needs to without entering the prohibited zone. Both times he was arrested he was in the prohibited zone," she said.

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