A PLASTERER who admitted driving in Poole several days after snorting cocaine has been fined and banned from holding a licence for one year.
Alan Coates, of Malmesbury Way, Yeovil, pleaded guilty to driving with the proportion of cocaine, benzoylecgonine and ketamine above the specified limit.
On Tuesday (Feb 13), Poole Magistrates Court was told Coates was pulled over by police near the Wessex Gate Retail Park, Broadstone Way, Poole, on November 1 last year.
After passing a roadside alcohol test, officers asked the 31-year-old if he’d taken drugs. Coates told them he’d taken cocaine a few days earlier.
Defending, James Moore, told the court: “He was using cocaine because his partner had just given him the news she’d lost their unborn child.
“He only used a modest amount of cocaine.
“Cocaine is often cut with other white powder to make it look like more.”
He was fined £350, ordered to pay £35 victim surcharge and £85 costs.
Coates was also banned from driving from 12 months.
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