Driver with cocaine in bloodstream fined £300

George Maslen, aged 23, of Kingsbere Crescent, Dorchester appeared before Weymouth Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, January 2. He pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle with a proportion of a specific controlled drug above the specified limit. Maslen was driving a Volkswagen car on the B3143 Slyer's Lane, Dorchester, on July 22, 2023, when he was involved in a crash with a Suzuki Carrie Van[1].

Tara Olney for the Crown Prosecution Service said the Road Traffic Collision "was not the defendant's fault" as the Suzuki crossed into his path. A blood specimen was taken by police and found 240 micrograms of Benzoylecgonine in Maslen's blood, above the legal limit of 50 micrograms. The driver of the Suzuki suffered a "significant brain injury" in the crash, which the court heard "was not the fault of the defendant".

Simon Lacey for the defence said: "There was nothing he could do about the crash. "There was no impairment by drugs, the substance is a breakdown product of cocaine. "He had taken cocaine 48 hours before and has not taken cocaine since the crash."

Chairman of the bench of Magistrates Mr Stevenson said: "You are the victim of a set of circumstances but the law is the law and you had a controlled drug in your system, namely cocaine in your bloodstream."

Maslen was fined GBP253 and ordered to pay a surcharge of GBP101 and banned from driving for 12 months.

References

1. ^ a crash with a Suzuki Carrie Van (www.dorsetecho.co.uk)