A MAN who drove over a burst water main while under the influence of cannabis has been banned from driving for three years at Welshpool Magistrates Court.
Eifion Edgell, 24 and of Llangybi in Ceredigion, pleaded guilty to driving with a proportion of 4.9 microgrammes per litre of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol - a psychoactive element of cannabis - in his system along the A483 close to Pennant Hall near Abermule. It meant he was twice the legal limit.
Helen Tench, prosecuting, told the court that shortly before 5am on July 4 this year, police arrived to find Edgell outside his car on the road after he thought he had damaged it by driving over the pipe.
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Mrs Tench said officers suspected he was on drugs as he was ‘talkative’ and a swab confirmed it was cannabis.
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She added the defendant told police that he was not a cannabis user and it was ‘secondhand smoke’.
Defending Edgell, Owain Jones said that his client deserved credit for alerting the court of a previous drug-driving offence in Aberystwyth in 2020 which meant his sentencing could go ahead.
Mr Jones told Magistrates that Edgell had driven over the water pipe because police, behind him, were driving with full-beam headlights.
But he admitted the police confirmed Edgell was to be pulled over anyway.
Magistrates banned him for three years with a fine of £120, £85 costs and a £48 victim surcharge.
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