A refrigerator engineer has been banned from the roads after he attempted to drive from Peterhead to East Kilbride with cocaine and methadone in his system.
Andrew Smith’s erratic driving shocked a fellow motorist to such a degree that they dialled 999.
The 40-year-old’s vehicle was seen swerving into the opposing carriageway and repeatedly struck kerbs and verges.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that the concerned motorist followed Smith for more than 20 miles – with police ultimately finding his van parked in a layby with him asleep in the driver’s seat.
When woken and tested by police, Smith was found to have cocaine, methadone and a cocaine metabolite in his system.
Van went around corner on wrong side of road
Fiscal depute Sean Ambrose told the court that at around 11.45pm on July 16 2021 a road user who was travelling on the A90 road from Fraserburgh found himself behind a white Ford transit van.
The motorist could see the van was speeding up and slowing down in an erratic manner, Mr Ambrose said.
“The driver of the vehicle following contacted the police non-emergency number as he was concerned about the manner in which the van was being driven,” he said.
“Whilst on the telephone, the white transit van went around a corner on the wrong side of the road.
“As they went into Peterhead, the witness became so concerned that he hung up the phone and called 999 as he saw the van striking the kerbside and side verges while slowing down and speeding up.”
The motorist then followed the van for more than 20 miles while travelling the A90.
Police found the van in a layby around a mile outside Ellon.
Officers were initially unable to rouse him in the driver’s seat as they banged on the window. When Smith eventually woke up and stepped out of the van he nearly fell over.
Smith stated that he was “just tired as he had been driving all day”.
Driver was positive for drugs
When tested at the roadside, Smith tested negative for alcohol but positive for cocaine.
He was later blood tested and found to have 8.9 microgrammes of cocaine and 52 microgrammes of benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, per litre of blood in his system. The legal limit is 50mcg.
The test also showed that Smith had 125mcg of the opioid replacement medicine methadone in his bloodstream.
Smith pleaded guilty to one charge of driving a motor vehicle while unfit to do so through drink or drugs.
Defence agent Sian Grant told the court that Smith had been working in the Peterhead area and had been driving back to his home in East Kilbride at the time.
“He was tired and that explains the manner of his driving, but he also knows he shouldn’t have been driving with these substances in his system,” she said.
“Mr Smith has lost his job due to this incident.”
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin disqualified Smith, of MacBeth, East Kilbride, from driving for 12 months and fined him a total of £640.
