Drug-driver caught on M27 with cannabis and cocaine in his blood

Lee Jones, 34, of Allaway Avenue, Paulsgrove, was spotted between junctions eight for Southampton and nine for Whiteley.

Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court heard he overtook a police car, which had to speed up to catch him while he was driving a Ford Focus.

The driver, who appeared in court but was allowed to sit outside of the dock as he was in a wheelchair suffering from a club foot, admitted three charges.

They were cannabis drug-driving, cocaine drug-driving and possession of cannabis, a class B drug.

Sentencing, Magistrate Gary Hughes imposed an £80 fine with a three-year driving ban. He must pay £85 costs. The magistrate ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the seized cannabis.

Natalie Dennington, for Jones, said he accepted ‘should not have driven’ while over the prescribed limit.

Ms Dennington added he had returned from holiday and thought he would be okay to drive his vehicle.

‘He felt he was fit and well,’ she said.

The limit for cannabis is 2 microgrammes per litre of blood. His reading was 3.3. The limit for benzoylecgonine, a cocaine byproduct, is 50. Jones’s reading was 52.