A woman has been banned from the roads after she was found to be 16 times the cocaine limit while driving from Dundee to Aberdeen.
Mary Cruickshank, also known as Sim, was stopped in her black Volkswagen by police on the A90 after travelling the 44-mile journey from Tayside to Drumlithie, near Stonehaven.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard the 51-year-old’s driving aroused the suspicion of officers who tested her at the roadside.
It is understood the shocking reading is near the upper level of what can be recorded by police’s drug testing equipment.
Fiscal depute Nicole Lewis told the court that on October 28 2020 police officers became aware of Cruickshank’s vehicle due to the manner of her driving.
“She was stopped by the police and the accused was identified to be the driver of the vehicle,” she said.
“After exiting the car, she was required to carry out a roadside test, which showed a positive result for cocaine.”
A later reading found 800mcg of benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, per litre of blood in Cruickshank’s system. The legal limit is 50mcg.
She pleaded guilty to one charge of being in charge of a motor vehicle with a metabolite of cocaine in her system.
Last year police officers in Eastbourne caught a driver will the same level of benzoylecgonine in their blood. On that occasion police Constable Michael Dunn said the samples were “off the chart and above the limit that the machine could test for”.
‘She has fundamentally changed her life’
Defence agent Liam McAllister told the court his client had “an incredibly limited record” but conceded Cruickshank’s reading was “very high”.
He added: “The circumstances that led to her being arrested have actually been a blessing for her because as a result she has fundamentally changed her life.
“She has undergone drug treatment and she has gone to great lengths to get away from her former life.
“This happened some time ago.”
Sheriff Edward Gilroy told Cruickshank: “This is a high reading, a very high reading, in fact.
“Had you not stayed out of trouble for more than two years I would have been looking at another option.”
Sheriff Edward Gilroy disqualified Cruickshank, of Gilcomston Park, Aberdeen, from driving for 20 months and fined her a total of £290.
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