Drug-driver crashed Audi outside Sunderland pub after smoking cannabis

Michael Lawson’s solicitor said it was a burden the 46-year-old will carry after a crash into a pedestrian road crossing point exposed his habit.

The smash, outside The Grange pub, came after he had smoked the prohibited class B drug the night before.

It led Lawson, of Newbridge Avenue, High Southwick, to misjudge his right turn onto Newcastle Road in his Audi RS4 on Saturday, April 3, and to hit railings.

Magistrates in South Tyneside were told he locked the car and moved away but returned and admitted his guilt when police arrived.

Prosecutor Becky Slade said: “An officer attended a one-car collision. He found a black Audi had damaged some railings. There was debris in the road.

“He confirmed from the registration number that the car belonged to Mr Lawson.

“The vehicle was locked and there was substantial damage. Nobody was in the vehicle.

“A short time later Mr Lawson identified himself and came back to the vehicle.

“His eyes were glazed, and he smelled of cannabis. He said that he smoked cannabis daily. He provided a positive roadside sample.”

Employed and married Lawson, who has no previous convictions, gave a reading for cannabis derivative THC of greater than 7mcg per litre of blood.

The legal limit is 2mcg.

Defence solicitor Greg Flaxen said Lawson, who pleaded guilty to drug-driving, smoked cannabis for medicinal purposes.

He added: “What’s happened is that at the Grange pub, he has turned right.

“There’s a public crossing which he’s clipped, that’s where he has put the car onto the railings. It’s a tight junction.

“He had smoked cannabis at 10pm the night before. He didn’t believe that he would be over the limit and felt fine to drive.

“He feels embarrassed because he has a 21-year-old son and has had to explain why he is going to lose his licence.

“His employer is wholly disappointed in him as well.”

Magistrates banned Lawson from driving for 12 months and fined him £150, with £85 court costs and a £34 victim surcharge.

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