Two men from Hove have been banned from the road after being caught driving having taken drugs during the annual Christmas crackdown in drink and drug driving.
One was found to have taken cocaine – and to be just over the legal limit – while the other had three times as much cannabis in his system as the law permits.
Samuel Thomas, 26, a window fitter, of Sunninghill Avenue, Hangleton, was arrested in Court Farm Road, Hove, on Friday 28 December.
He was charged with driving an Audi with cannabis in his system after police found that he had 6 micrograms of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol per litre of his blood. The legal limit is 2 micrograms.
Thomas pleaded guilty to drug driving when he appeared at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 13 June.
He was banned from driving for 12 months, fined £440 and ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £44 victim surcharge, making £569 in total.
In the other case, Lawrence Alexander Zaver, 28, a cleaner, of Sheridan Terrace, Hove, was arrested in Applesham Avenue, Hove, on Saturday 22 December.
He had taken cocaine and was charged with driving a Mercedes with 52 micrograms of benzoylecgonine per litre of blood in his system. The legal limit is 50 micrograms.
Zaver was also charged with having cannabis – and he admitted both offences.
He was banned from driving for 12 months when he appeared at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 13 June.
The bench fined him £120 for drug driving and £80 for having cannabis. He was also ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £30 victim surcharge, making £315 in total.
Sussex Police said: “A total of 240 motorists were arrested in Sussex as part of (the) Christmas crackdown on drink and drug drivers which ran from (Saturday) 1 December 2018 to (Tuesday) 1 January 2019.
“Of those, 126 have since been convicted in court.
“The remainder have either been charged, released under investigation or released without charge.”
