A drug-driver without a full driving licence was more than eight times the limit for a cocaine breakdown product when he was pulled over on the A596.

Police stopped a Volkswagan Passat driven by Adam Cartwright, 32, in Flimby on May 9, Workington Magistrates’ Court was told.

Pamela Fee, prosecuting, said a check on the police database showed the vehicle had no insurance. There was nothing about the manner of driving.

Cartwright, of Buttermere Road, Maryport, was identified as the driver. He confirmed he had no insurance and only held a provisional licence. He wasn’t displaying L plates and had no one supervising, the court heard.

A drugs wipe was positive for cannabis. A drugs tests showed Cartwright had not less than 10mcg of Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol per litre of blood. The legal limit is 2mcg.

The reading for Benzoylecgonine - the breakdown product for cocaine - was 407mcg per litre of blood. The legal limit is 50mcg.

Cartwright pleaded guilty to two charges of driving a vehicle with a proportion of a specified controlled drug above the specified limit, and charges of driving without insurance and driving a vehicle otherwise than in accordance with a licence.

Mike Woolaghan, defending, said: “He accepts what he did was foolish. The vehicle was available to him to learn to drive. Foolishly, he had decided to get into the vehicle.

“He is now abstinent from drugs.”

Magistrates imposed a one-year community order with 40 hours of unpaid. Cartwright was banned from driving for 24 months.

He must also pay £85 in costs and a £95 victim surcharge.

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