[A] driver was caught with over 16-times the legal limit of an illegal drug in his blood after being stopped by police in Carlisle.
Magistrates in the Rickergate court complex in Carlisle were told how police-officers stopped a white Mercedes A class car around 2am on Wednesday May 10 on Warwick Road in the city.
When the car was stopped it hit a kerb and mounted the pavement, when the officer spoke to the driver he “smelt what he thought was intoxicants on the drivers breath”.
Looking into the car the officer found a substance of white powder, now known as the illegal drug cocaine,
The court was told the driver, Alexander McAllister, 22, was very “fidgety”, he was arrested and taken to Durranhill police station.
While in custody he was found to have an illegal drug in his blood, the drug known as BZE [Benzoyylecgonine] a metabolised form of cocaine, a drugs test showed he had 800-micrograms per litre of blood, the legal limit is 50mg he exceeded the specified legal limit for driving by at least 16-times.
Mc Allister gave his address as High Road, off London Road, in Carlisle, he represented himself in court and said “he was sorry” and went on to say he was a self-employed painter and decorator, before passing sentence he was told by the presiding magistrate “you not only had illegal drugs in your system, you had had alcohol as well”.
He was disqualified from driving for a period of 12-months, fined £320 with court costs of £85 and a £32 victims surcharge.