A Tenby motorist has appeared before magistrates after being caught driving his Peugeot when he was five times over the specified drug-drive limit.

The amount of cocaine metabolite,Benzoylecgonine that was found in Darren Shaw’s system when he was stopped by police officers totalled 335mcg. The specified legal limit is 50.

This week Haverfordwest magistrates heard that Shaw, of the Imperial Hotel, Tenby, was stopped by police officers as he drove along the B117 at Lincolnshire on April 21.

“He was stopped at around 9.15am and told officers that he’d taken cocaine,” said Crown Prosecutor Sian Vaughan. “As a result, he was arrested and he gave a subsequent reading of 335 mcg.  The legal limit is 50.”

Shaw pleaded guilty to driving over the drug-drive limit. He was legally represented in court by Mr David Williams who stressed that despite his high benzoylecgonine reading, he'd consumed the cocaine several days prior to his arrest.

“He’d consumed the cocaine while he was at a festival some days prior and was caught out by the fact that controlled drugs remain in your system much longer than alcohol does,” he said. “That morning, the officers’ attention was drawn by a new Peugeot which he was driving, and they began following it and he was stopped.”

Darren Shaw was ordered to pay a total of £1,093 comprising a £720 fine, a £288 surcharge and £85 costs. He was disqualified from driving for 12 months.

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