Drugs driver from Skegness is banned

Steven Shepherd, 59, of Clarke Way, who initially denied the offence on the grounds that the reading might have been affected by his medication, admitted the offence when he appeared for his trial at Boston Magistrates Court in February and was now appearing for sentence.

Prosecuting, Paul Wood said Shepherd was stopped while driving his Peugeot car on Burgh Road at 11pm on December 2 2020 and gave a positive drugs wipe, later testing positive and over the limit for cocaine.

He said Shepherd had only changed his plea on the day of his trial and so was liable to pay full prosecution costs.

Helen Coney, mitigating, said that originally Shepherd had believed his medication had affected the drugs test.

The magistrates fined him £162, pointing out that had he pleaded guilty at the outset, he would have had a discount by up to a third, and he was ordered to pay a total of £334 in court costs and charges.He was also banned from driving for a year.