A drug-driver was caught nearly FIFTEEN times the legal limit for cocaine – but his solicitor argued the limit is effectively “zero-tolerance”.
James Cox was pulled over by police the evening after consuming the class-A drug, but was still significantly over the reading deemed lawful for driving.
And while the 45-year-old accepted he was guilty of the offence, his solicitor questioned the “relevance” of the legal limit, which he branded effectively “zero-tolerance”.
Fiscal depute Ann Mann told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the incident happened on Holburn Street at 10,10pm on February 20.
She said: “Police had reason to stop the accused’s vehicle and found him to be the driver.
“Roadside tests were carried out and the accused tested positive for cocaine.”
Cox, of Carmarthen Crescent, Liverpool, pled guilty to driving with 744 microgrammes of cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine per litre of blood.
The legal limit is just 50 microgrammes.
‘There’s no suggestion he was impaired’
Defence agent Ian Woodward-Nutt said his client had been in Aberdeen visiting family and had consumed cocaine the day prior to being pulled over.
He continued: “There’s no suggestion of impairment of his ability to drive.
“I would, of course, accept that the reading is many times over the legal limit – the real issue is the relevance of the legal limit.
“He accepts he falls foul of zero-tolerance legislation, but it’s against the background that there’s no suggestion he was impaired or in any other way unable to drive.”
Sheriff Peter Grant-Hutchison fined Cox £210 and banned him from driving for a year.
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