One-year ban and £300 fine for motorist with Ketamin in system

A motorist who took the calming drug Ketamin has been fine £300 and banned from the road for a year.

Hannah Thomson (27) had parked her Vauxhall Astra in Market Square, Wick, to visit the Highland Council offices, on November 9, last year.

She was later spotted leaving the building by a concerned traffic warden who formed the impression she was unsteady on her feet and contacted the police, Wick Sheriff Court heard this week.

Officers who arrived, thought that Thomson's speech was slurred and that she appeared to be under the influence of "intoxicating substances".

Fiscal Depute Grant McLennan said that after providing a positive drugs swipe, Thomson was arrested and taken to Wick Police Station. However, there was no qualified person to take a blood sample from her to determine the level of the drug in her system.

The accused was charged with driving while unfit through drugs, or, being in charge of a vehicle while unfit through drugs.

Thomson pleaded guilty to the latter charge and admitted a previous record of offending. She was fined £300 and banned from driving for a year.

Thomson was said to have previously had her driving licence revoked on medical grounds.

Solicitor Neil McRobert, told Sheriff Mark Lindsay: "The accused regarded that as an opportunity to address issues in her life and is currently clear of substances. She was in a bad place at the end of last year."

Sheriff Lindsay told Thomson of Lord Thurso Court, Thurso, that there were "significant mitigating" circumstances in her case.

He fined her £300 and banned her from driving for a year.