A van driver from Oldham has been fined £2,000 and banned from driving for two years after police found cocaine in his vehicle as he drove off the ferry from Liverpool, according to Isle of Man Today.
The 38-year-old must pay the fine and £50 in prosecution costs immediately or face up to 80 days in prison. Magistrates also ordered him to sit an extended driving test when the disqualification ends, and the ban will apply in the UK as well.
Prosecuting advocate Annie Bannister told the court the man was at the wheel of a Volkswagen Crafter on 14 April when officers stopped him for a routine vehicle check as he disembarked.
A drug wipe indicated cocaine, and officers then discovered 1.9 grams of the class A drug on one of the van’s seats. Police estimated it was worth £190. He was arrested and, when interviewed, admitted driving and bringing the drug onto the island.
A blood sample was sent to the UK for testing. The result, which came back on 13 August, recorded a level of 240 for benzoylecgonine, a substance produced as the body breaks down cocaine. The legal limit for it is 50.
Defence advocate Kaitlyn Shimmin said her client’s reading for cocaine itself had been within the limit, and only the metabolite had exceeded it. She told magistrates he had been coming to the island to work. He had relied on substances during a period of family difficulties but no longer used them, she said, and his employer might help if he could not pay the fine at once.
Magistrates imposed £1,250 for driving under the influence of benzoylecgonine and £750 for importing cocaine.
