Sheffield drug-driver caught over limit 24 hours after party

Sheffield Magistrates' Court heard on December 31 how motorist Owen Thomas, aged 20, of Armstead Road, Beighton, Sheffield, was stopped by police and found with cannabis before he went on to fail a drug-drive blood test.

Prosecuting solicitor Robert Coyne said: “Police officers were driving along Eckington Road in a marked vehicle and saw a Seat vehicle and decided to stop the vehicle but it is not clear why.

“The defendant was made subject to a drug search and cannabis was found in a backpack in the rear footwell. The amount of cannabis has not been quantified and it’s assumed it was a small amount for personal use.”

The court heard Thomas failed a drug-swipe and a sample of blood was taken and the levels for the cocaine derivative benzoylecgonine and for cannabis were registered as being above the drug-drive limits.

Thomas, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis and to exceeding the drug-drive limits for a cocaine derivative and for cannabis after he was stopped on Eckington Road, Sheffield, on June 16, last year.

Defence solicitor Mark Dooley said Thomas says he was stopped by police while driving 24 hours or even longer after he had taken drugs at a party.

Magistrates fined Thomas £220 and ordered him to pay a £30 victim surcharge and £85 costs. He was also banned from driving for 18 months.