A transit van driver was smoking a cannabis joint just before he was pulled over by police.
Christopher Brown, 33, of Metcalf Avenue in South Lynn, appeared at the town’s magistrates court where he admitted driving above the specified drug limit and driving while uninsured.
Prosecutor Lesla Small explained that officers were carrying out a traffic offences operation on March 23 in relation to works vehicles.
At around 10.15am, officers stopped Brown as part of their roadside operation.
He admitted to police that he had smoked a cannabis joint just before being pulled over.
The court was told that he also confessed that the van did not belong to him, and that he was taking it to get an MOT done.
A breath test was carried out which came back positive for cocaine and cannabis.
A reading of 355mcg of cocaine came back per litre of blood – the legal limit to drive being 50mcg.
The court heard that Brown had a total of 10 convictions to his name.
In mitigation, Andrew Cogan said Brown had not taken cocaine before driving.
Mr Cogan said: “He’s lost to why cocaine came back as positive. He used to have a bad cocaine habit.
“He had a bad toothache but may have had a cocaine variant in his medication. He’s now got an appointment with the dentist so hopefully it won’t happen again.
“He cooperated fully with the police when doing the drug test.”
Due to a previous drug-driving offence on his record, magistrates disqualified Brown from driving for three years.
He will also pay a £120 fine, a victim surcharge of £48 and court costs of £50.
