Wick court told Orkney driver with cocaine failed to provide blood sample
An Orkney man has been fined more than £1000 and banned from driving for 15 months for drugs and insurance offences.
Eric Page (31) pleaded guilty to being in possession of cocaine with a street value of between £80 and £120 and failing to provide a specimen of blood following a positive roadside drug test.
He also admitted driving a van without insurance.
The offences occurred at the Tesco car park, Wick, and at the town's police station, between June 5 and 7.
Solicitor Fiona MacDonald told Sheriff Neil Wilson, at Wick Sheriff Court, that the Class A drugs were for Page's personal use and he had been led to believe that the van, which belonged to someone else, had insurance that covered him.
Miss MacDonald said that the case had been originally prosecuted on indictment but subsequently reduced to summary level.
Pleas of not guilty to additional charges of possession of knives, theft of a vehicle and a handbag were accepted by Fiscal Depute Grant McLennan.
Sheriff Wilson took Page's early plea and lack of previous convictions into account when sentencing him.
The accused was fined £300 on each of the drugs possession and insurance charges and £450 for failing to provide a sample of blood.
Page, of Bosquoy Road, Kirkwall, was said to have two non-analogous cases outstanding at the island's sheriff court.