A SELF employed plasterer has been banned from driving for a year after admitting being over the drugs drive limit in Skipton.
Christopher Evans, 32, was stopped by a police officer at 8.30am on February 11 as he drove his white Citroen Relay panel van from Otley Road towards Consort Street, heard magistrates.
The officer noticed the van’s indicator lights were flashing and suspected an electrical fault, the Skipton court was told.
On talking to Evans, the officer noticed a strong smell of cannabis. A road side test was positive and Evans was taken to Harrogate Police Station where a blood test later revealed he had 2.5 microgrammes of cannabis by-product, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, in a litre of blood, the legal limit is two.
Evans, who originally denied drugs driving, but changed his plea ahead of the trial, told the court he had smoked a cannabis joint the day before driving, but had thought it would have cleared his system in time.
He said as a self employed plasterer, he would be unable to work without a driving licence, but accepted he had made a mistake.
Evans, of North Street, Colne, was banned from driving for a year and fined £400. He will also have to pay costs of £150 and surcharge of £40.
Story courtesy of Craven Herald