A Turriff man’s lawyer said his client had learned a “hard lesson” after being caught driving under the influence of cannabis.
Robert James was stopped by the police earlier this year over concerns about the way he was driving on an unclassified road near Forglen.
Officers followed the 20-year-old on the B9025 before pulling over James close to his home address of Bogton Cottage, around 8pm on March 19.
Fiscal depute Emma Paterson said the officers first stopped James to carry out a “system check” on his black Ford Fiesta.
She told the court: “They were following behind due to his manner of driving. They decided to stop him, and he provided a positive result on a drug wipe test.”
Drug driver was four times the legal limit
James later carried out a blood test and was found to have four times the legal limit of cannabis in his system.
He gave a reading of 8.3mcg per litre of blood. The limit is just 2mcg.
James appeared at Banff Sheriff Court where he pled guilty to one charge of drug driving.
One further charge of having bald tyres was dropped.
James was also facing a charge of dangerous driving along the B9121 near Whitehills on June 21 2023, but this was also dropped.
The charge alleged that James was dangerously driving a red VW Golf by repeatedly hitting another car and driving at excessive speeds on the wrong side of the road, causing other drivers to take evasive action.
‘Hard lesson’ learned
James’ defence solicitor Stuart Beveridge said his client had learned a “hard lesson” in how long cannabis takes to leave one’s system.
“He had smoked some the night before and it was still in his system at the point he was pulled over by the police.
“He is in employment, lives with his parents and earns £400 per week,” Mr Beveridge added.
Sheriff Eric Brown fined James £420 and disqualified him from driving for 12 months.
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