Court / Ban for driver caught three times over cocaine limit

A DRIVER stopped with over three times the legal limit for cocaine in his blood has been banned from the road and fined.

Lewis Tait, 29, also had 734 microgrammes of Benzoylecgonine – a metabolite of cocaine – per litre of blood in his system on 22 January this year.

The legal limit for the metabolite is just 50mcg, putting Tait – from Levenwick – over 14 times the limit.

He had 32 microgrammes of cocaine per litre of blood, with the limit 10mcg.

Tait admitted the charges when he appeared at Lerwick Sheriff Court today (Wednesday).

The court heard Tait was stopped by police on a routine road traffic matter at around 11pm, having driven between South Road in Lerwick and Gulberwick’s Shurton Brae.

He co-operated fully with a drugs wipe, and was arrested at the roadside.

The court was told that Benzoylecgonine appeared in the system once cocaine which had been taken previously had metabolised.

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Defence agent Tommy Allan said Tait was a truck driver who was likely to lose his job as a result of the offence.

Allan said his client had been going through a difficult period following the death of a friend in Aberdeen, and had moved back to Shetland for family support.

Tait had, in his own words, “gone off the rails at that point”.

The solicitor said his client had not touched any illegal substances since his arrest in January.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank said the two charges suggested a large previous consumption of cocaine and a more recent use of the drug.

He fined Tait £1,000 and banned him from driving for a period of 12 months.