The UK Anti-Doping Agency (Ukad) has handed out its longest suspension from sport for nearly three years after the rally driver Paul Bird refused to give a sample to anti-doping controllers in what was the second violation of his career.

Bird served a two-year ban from July 2015 after testing positive for cocaine, and has now received an eight-year suspension from all sport after he refused to be tested at the Rallynuts Stages Rally in Brecknockshire, mid-Wales, last April.

The ban is backdated to the day he was notified, 11 July 2018, and will run until 2026.

Bird is the only athlete within motorsport to have ever been sanctioned by Ukad, and one of only a handful to have received a suspension as long as eight years.

Ukad’s chief executive, Nicole Sapstead, said it was important for the organisation to take strong action against those who ignored its protocols.

“It is clear in the Anti-Doping Rules that refusing to provide a sample will be treated as seriously as a failed test,” Sapstead said. ”Mr Bird was aware of this, having been warned of the consequences by Doping Control Personnel at the time.