A dad-of-nine caught drug-driving was in a hurry because he had received a call about someone going into labour, a court has heard.
Gordon Wilson was stopped by police officers conducting safety checks and tested positive for a metabolite of cocaine.
Wilson, 34, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court for sentencing having previously admitted a single charge of drug-driving on Craig Road, Dingwall.
Fiscal depute David Morton told the court that roads policing officers were conducting safety checks at around 10am on December 12 of 2021 when their attention was drawn to Wilson’s vehicle.
Positive drugs wipe
He was stopped and provided roadside samples. The breath test proved negative but he returned a positive drugs wipe.
Further testing revealed him to have 91 microgrammes of benzoylecgonine – a metabolite of cocaine – per litre of blood, the legal limit being 50mcg.
Mr Morton said: “He did indicate to officers that he was rushing because he had received a call that someone was in labour, he appeared to be keen to get moving.”
Solicitor Graham Mann, for Wilson, of Milnafua, Alness, said: “He was in a hurry. It was because he was in a hurry that the police took an interest in speaking with him.
‘A dangerous thing to do’
“You can never mix operating a car and taking drugs. That’s a dangerous thing to do, he accepts that.”
Mr Mann added that the cocaine metabolite itself was not believed to cause impairment and was simply an indicator of prior drug use.
He said that grounds worker Wilson, who shares a home with his wife and their nine children, had been hoping to train as an HGV driver, but would not now be able to pursue that.
Sheriff Robert Frazer noted Wilson’s previous convictions, including a previous analogous conviction, and banned him from the roads for three years.