Ban and fine for construction worker caught drug driving on A9 at Arpafeelie on Black Isle with cannabis in system
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A construction worker who drove in Ross-shire with an unsafe amount of cannabis in his system was fined £520 and banned from driving for a year.
Rui Pereira of Charleston Court, Inverness, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court and admitted drug driving on the A9 at Arpafeelie, by Tore on April 7, 2020.
Fiscal depute Hilary Michopoulou told Sheriff Margaret Neilson that 29-year-old Pereira was stopped by police carrying out a routine speed check.
Officers smelled cannabis in his vehicle and a blood test revealed he was more than three times the safe limit for driving with a reading of not less than 7mcgs of a cannabis metabolyte. The safe limit is 2mcgs.
Defence solicitor Graham Mann said: "He has been stopped on a regular basis since this offence and has been clear. Whether he keeps his employment with an Inverness construction firm is up to his employers.
"It seems strange that there is no programme for drug drivers when there is on for alcohol."
Sheriff Margaret Neilson agreed.
