Drug driver given road ban after being stopped by police

Bethany Whitfield, 22, allegedly did so after officers lit up their blue lights to pull her over on the A194 on the evening of Sunday, February 27.

Whitfield also had the smell of the prohibited class C drug coming from her Citroen when police approached on foot.

Prosecutor Gurjot Kaur told magistrates in South Tyneside a blood test revealed cannabis derivative THC at a level above the legal limit.

She said: “Officers were on duty on the A194 when they noticed a black Citroen which was being driven erratically.

“It was swerving from the right lane into the left lane. They illuminated their lights and pulled it over.

“They saw that she appeared to throw something out of the window. They believe it was a joint.

“They approached the vehicle and there was a smell of cannabis coming from it.

“The defendant was arrested and taken to a police station, where she provided a blood sample.”

The court heard the sample showed THC at a level greater than 7mg per 100ml of blood, against a legal limit of 2mg.

Whitfield, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to drug driving.

Duncan Emmerson, defending, said: “She made a catastrophic mistake after she had been smoking cannabis earlier in the day.

“She had had an argument with her partner and decided to go home, but she had had cannabis earlier on.

“I can only put the driving down to her emotional state, rather than the cannabis.

“She is mortified to be here today. It is a high reading, but she has not been in trouble before with the police.

“You may wish to regard this as a one-off. There was little if any traffic around.”

Magistrates banned Whitfield, who works in administration in Thirsk, North Yorks, from driving for a year, and fined her £375, with £85 court costs and a £38 victim surcharge.

John Lee, chair of the bench, told Whitfield, of Front Street, Newfield, near Chester-le-Street, the message not to drive after taking drugs had not yet hit home in society – and warned that substances stay in the system longer than alcohol.