A 60-YEAR-old motorist had unknowingly taken cocaine after being given painkillers for toothache by a friend.

Walter Henderson was stopped by police while driving a Citroen Berlingo van on Grasmere Avenue in Workington on the morning of December 27 last year.

Pamela Fee, prosecuting at Workington Magistrates’ Court, said the vehicle was stopped because it was showing as having an expired MOT and tax.

The vehicle was seized for having no tax and Henderson was arrested after giving a positive drugs sample.

A blood sample was taken at the police station which showed Henderson had 418mcg of Benzoylecgonine – the body breakdown product for cocaine – per litre of blood. The legal limit is 50mcg.

Ms Fee said cocaine was also present in the defendant’s blood.

Claire Kirkpatrick, defending, said it was an ‘unusual’ case because Henderson had never ‘knowingly’ taken cocaine.

She told the court: “In December last year, half a tooth snapped. A friend gave him some painkillers. He has come to the conclusion that could may well have been what he has taken.

“He accepts the blood test that has come back. It’s certainly not a case where he has knowingly taken an illegal drug.

“He was taking these strong painkillers. He thought he was fine to drive. He didn’t think he would be affected by any medications he had been taking.”

Henderson, of Beech Grove Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle with a proportion of a specified controlled drug above the specified limit and using a motor vehicle on a road without a valid test certificate.

Magistrates imposed a 12-month driving ban and fined Henderson £120. He must also pay £85 costs and a £48 victim surcharge.