A MOTORIST stopped by police on a residential Carlisle street was over the limit for a drug which he had not been prescribed.

At Carlisle’s Rickergate court, Joseph Grieve, 25, pleaded guilty to the offence, which involved the drug diazepam. A test showed that he had just over twice the legal limit for the drug in his system when he was arrested.

The police officer who stopped him administered a test because he suspected the defendant was under the influence of a drug of some kind, said prosecutor George Shelley as he opened the case.

The court heard that Grieve, of Lawson Street, Carlisle, was caught while driving a Volvo along Ruthella Street on the afternoon of March 3.

Andrew Gurney, defending, said the mental health of both the defendant and his partner had been impacted by her suffering a back injury and he had used some of her diazepam to deal with his own mental health.

He was recently appointed as his partner’s carer. Having suffered nerve damage, his partner could now barely walk, said Mr Gurney. Magistrates fined Grieve £120, with £85 costs and a £34  victim surcharge.

He was given a one-year driving ban – the minimum available to the court for any drug driving offence.