Drug driver found almost nine times over limit banned

A man has received a 40 month driving ban after being found almost nine times over the drug drive limit following a collision in Clacton.

Ross Madden, 28, of Woodview Close, Bristol, appeared at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 8 January where he was convicted for two counts of driving a vehicle with a proportion of a specified controlled drug above the specified limit in his system.

He was banned from driving for over three years, he was ordered to pay a £90 victim surcharge and £85 court costs and he is required to complete an unpaid work requirement and a community order.

On Saturday 29 June 2019, Madden was involved in a collision while travelling along the A133 Clacton bypass with a child in the car.

While no one was seriously injured, both vehicles involved were significantly damage and in Madden’s car caught alight.

Madden gave a positive reading to cocaine and cannabis.

It was later found that he was very close to being nine times over the drug drive limit for benzoylecgonine, which is a metabolite of cocaine.

He was just short of being three times over the limit for drug driving in relation to cannabis use.

Investigating officer PC Thomas Raes, of Stanway Roads Policing Unit, said: “The tests revealed that Madden had a large amount of drugs in his system.

“One of these was a by-product of cocaine – meaning the drug may have been in his system for some time.  He also had a large amount of cannabis in his system.

“Fortunately no one was seriously hurt in the collision that Madden was involved in and he has since been banned from driving for a lengthy period of time.

"This hopefully sends a strong message that drug driving is taken just as seriously as drink driving and will not be tolerated by us, or the courts.”