Moray driver given ban for cocaine use
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A Moray man has been banned from the roads for three years after pleading guilty to a second driving offence.
Elgin Sheriff Court heard that a police patrol had reason to stop a vehicle on the town’s Borough Briggs Road at 10pm on December 23, 2022.
When the officers spoke to its driver, Darren Sim, they formed the opinion that he might be under the influence.
A roadside test provided a positive reading for cocaine.
This was confirmed by an official test carried out at 11pm in Egin Police Station.
A reading of 246 was recorded, nearly five times higher than 50 – the level at which, according to the law, cocaine harms a person’s ability to drive.
The court was told that the 28-year-old had already been banned for a drink driving offence dating from around the same period.
Stephen Carty, his solicitor, said: “At that particular time he was at a particularly low ebb. He is in a much more positive place now then he was.”
Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov agreed: “He does seem to have an increased maturity compared to his previous appearance in this court.”
Sim, of Fraser Road, Burghead, received a three-year driving ban.
He was also ordered to carry out 160 hours of unpaid work for the community within the next nine months.
