A MAN has been banned from the roads after he was caught drug-driving in Kinmel Bay.
Andrew Ferns pleaded guilty to charges of drug-driving and cannabis possession at Llandudno Magistrates Court today (December 3).
Ferns, 34, of Meiklejohn Place, Stoke-on-Trent, was also ordered to pay more than £400.
Prosecutor Jim Neary said on August 24, Ferns was driving an Audi vehicle on in Kinmel Bay when police officers “flagged him down”.
They detected the smell of cannabis, and then found a quantity of the drug in his car.
Ferns then gave a positive reading for Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, a cannabis compound, with 3.1 micrograms of the drug per litre of blood recorded.
Representing Ferns, Nia Dawson asked the court to acknowledge his guilty plea at the earliest opportunity.
She said Ferns suffered a “nasty accident” last December, causing him to break his back, legs and tibia, and leaving him in “a lot of pain”.
Ms Dawson said Ferns smokes “a small amount of cannabis” at night to help with pain relief and sleeping.
On this occasion, she said, Ferns “hadn’t released it (cannabis) was still in his system the next day”.
Sentencing, District Judge Gwyn Jones ordered Ferns to pay a fine of £250, a surcharge of £140, and court costs of £85
He was banned from driving for 12 months, while the cannabis is to be forfeited and destroyed.
“Don’t drive while banned, otherwise you’ll be back before the court,” he told Ferns.
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