Man caught drug driving two days after cocaine binge

 MAN who had a “heavy night” on cocaine to celebrate his birthday was six-and-a-half times over the drug drive limit two days later.

Craig Davies, of Delapoer Drive in Haverfordwest, had been on a birthday binge on Sunday, December 1 and was stopped by police on the Wednesday morning.

The 34-year-old had pulled over in Pembroke Dock to pump up his tyres when he was spotted by Dyfed-Powys Police PC Richard Mycroft.

He admitted to the Pembrokeshire Roads Policing Unit officer that he’d had a “heavy night” after a friend gave him a lump of cocaine for his birthday.

Such was the quantity Davies consumed, there was still 65mg of cocaine and 800mg of Benzoylecgonine – a compound cocaine is broken down into – per litre of blood in his system. This is six-and-a-half times and 16 times the respective limits for driving.

PC Mycroft said: “I was on patrol in the Buttermilk Lane area of Pembroke Dock at around 1am when I saw a Vauxhall Tigra pulled over with the engine running.

“The driver was out of the car, and was using a small pump to re-inflate the front tyre and then a back tyre.

“Given his demeanour and the fact that his pupils appeared extremely large, I asked him to undergo a roadside drug swab.

“It became apparent that he had driven a short distance before pulling over due to a problem with the tyres.”

The defendant told PC Mycroft he had taken “quite a lot” of cocaine two nights before as it was his birthday.

The swipe was positive, and he was arrested on suspicion of drug driving.

After blood samples were analysed, Davies was summonsed to appear at court charged with two counts of driving when the proportion of a controlled drug in his blood exceeded the specified limit.

He appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, July 7.

He was disqualified from driving for three years and ordered to pay a total of £237 in fines and costs.