Mum, 30, caught being eight TIMES drug-driving limit after snorting cocaine – as she’s banned from roads
A MOTHER has been banned from the roads for being almost eight times the drug-driving limit after snorting cocaine.
Hair stylist Nicole Wheatley then complained in court of being at her ''wit's end'' about getting her two disabled children to school.
The 30-year-old failed a drugs test when police were called to a house following an incident involving her ex-partner.
Investigations revealed Wheatley, from Middlewich in Cheshire, had driven her BMW 3 Series car to her unnamed partner's home in Crewe whilst the influence of benzoylecgonine - a breakdown product of cocaine.
Tests showed she had 390 micrograms of BZE per litre of blood in her system - the legal limit being 50mg.
Wheatley, who admitted drug-driving, later claimed she had been snorting cocaine ''recreationally'' with friends earlier that weekend.
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She said she was ''unwittingly'' breaking the law because she thought the drug had gone from her system.
And she insisted her conviction meant she would struggle to do the school run and go to work, since a local bus route was about to shut down.
But Crewe magistrates disqualified her from driving for 12 months and fined her £120.
Yvonne Dobson, prosecuting, said: “The matter relates back to January 8 when officers were requested to attend an address in Crewe due to a police report.
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"On arrival at the location, the officers were given information in relation to the defendant and due to the information received the officers requested the defendant to provide a sample for a roadside drug test.
“Her eyes were glazed, her pupils were dilated. She was defensive and emotional saying that she was being treated unfairly.
"Her behaviour was erratic and her voice was raised. She was moving around the pavement.
“She was advised that she could be arrested if she did not provide a sample.
"She then provided a sample of saliva which came back as positive for cocaine. She was arrested and taken back to custody where the drug-driving procedure was followed and complied with.
“The results showed that the defendant was over the limit. In relation to the defendant’s previous convictions, she was of previous good character having no previous convictions. She has now lost this.”
Prison threat
In mitigation, defence lawyer Lesley Herman said: “I am sure that you have seen many people come to court who have taken recreational drugs over the weekend and do not realise that the by-product is still in their system and are unwittingly breaking the law.
“She is very upset about the whole incident, primarily because she lives in Middlewich and she has two disabled children who she takes to school in Sandbach.
“She also works there at a salon. She is constantly driving. There is no bus route and there is no other way to get there.
"She is at her wit's end trying to work out how to get her children to school, let alone get to work.
“It is going to have a massive impact. There is a bus but that route is now stopping. She is in an impossible station.
“Although she had an income she will probably lose that. Her income is going to be severely diminished, and she will probably to have to go on benefits. ''
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But magistrate Neil Fowkes told Wheatley: “We have no discretion over the disqualification, which is required by law.
"You must not drive. If you were to do so you could be imprisoned, so please do not do so.''
