59-year-old caught drug-driving during ‘situation of despair’

A 59-year-old has been banned from driving for three years after taking cocaine and getting behind the wheel.Rogers Collins, of Willow Lane in Paddock Wood, Kent, appeared at Lynn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, where he pleaded guilty to drug-driving.He committed the offence while travelling along Clenchwarton Road in West Lynn on September 29 last year, where he was pulled over by the police after they were made aware of him being involved in an unrelated incident.

He admitted he had take cocaine the previous night, and a subsequent drugs wipe was positive.Tests revealed he had 11mcg of cocaine per litre of blood, exceeding the legal limit to drive of 10mcg.It transpired that Collins was driving without insurance, and he also admitted that offence in court. Despite there being no concerns about his manner of driving, Collins had previously been banned from the roads in July 2015 for drink-driving.He has therefore been handed a mandatory three-year disqualification, and will also pay a £166 fine, £66 victim surcharge and £85 in court costs. Mitigating, duty solicitor George Sorrell had told magistrates that Collins was working at the time he was pulled over and believed his employer had organised his insurance.“Somehow there was a complication, but I have explained it is his duty that the vehicle is insured,” Mr Sorrell said.He added that Collins has “been through a very hard time recently” after catching Covid and developing a lung condition. This has left him unable to work full-time, although he has taken up a part-time position as a labourer.He did go through a period of homelessness, and Mr Sorrell said: “So things were very bad for him.“In that situation of despair, he sought some comfort at the time in trying out this substance – cocaine – to his peril.“It didn’t bring him comfort, but it did bring him to court today.”