A motorist caught driving with a quantity of drugs in his system has been handed a 12 month ban.

Forty-two-year-old Lee Edward Pearce, of Sunderland Avenue, Pembroke Dock, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday to admit three charges of driving his Vauxhall Astra on the A477 at Sageston with a proportion of cocaine and amphetamine in his blood.

Prosecutor Vaughan Pritchard-Jones told the court that police officers carrying out routine patrols on July 18, stopped Mr. Pearce in his vehicle at 1.4o am.

“There was no allegation of bad driving, but when the officer spoke to the driver, he formed the opinion that he maybe under the influence of some form of drug.

“A roadside drug swipe was conducted and proved positive,” he explained.

The court heard after tests came back the amphetamine reading was 252 ug, the cocaine reading 81 ug, and the Benzoylecgonine (a component of cocaine) reading 1155 ug.

“There are no aggravating features, but the level of drugs in this driver’s system was concerning,” added Mr. Pritchard-Jones, stating that the defendant was eight times over the cocaine limit.

Defence solicitor David Elvy told the court that prior to the incident, Mr. Pearce had been out some days before.

“He has been under quite a bit of domestic pressure after he and his wife split and he was left with the children and trying to run a business.

“He had the opportunity one night to leave the kids with the mother-in-law and went out with friends to unwind, but unfortunately got involved with taking cocaine.

“This was some time before he drove, but it was a miscalculation on his part.

“A driving ban will have serious consequences, as Mr. Pearce is a self employed TV engineer, and needs to drive, so as he won’t be doing that after today, he is worried, but that is something that he has to face up to,” he added.

Magistrates disqualified Mr. Pearce from driving for 12 months and fined him £350 for the offence.

He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £35 victim surcharge.