Mansfield teen drove car when he was high on drugs to prevent friend's mum from drink driving

Jack Lee Smith appeared before Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, January 19, where he admitted drug-driving, driving without a licence and driving with no insurance.

The court heard that the 19-year-old had been pulled over by officers in the evening of June 7 last year in Park Avenue, when they noticed he was driving without lights.

Prosecuting, Emma Wakefield told the court: “Police noticed that the vehicle had no rear lights on and then they saw that no headlights were on either, and they saw it collide with the nearside kerb.

“Officers ran checks and it was discovered that he wasn’t insured to drive the vehicle and only had a provisional licence. There was another male in the vehicle but he was not old enough to drive.

“He told officers that a female had turned up at his house and he was saving her life because she had been drinking and he had taken the car away from her.

“They had reason to believe that he was under the influence - he passed a roadside breath test for alcohol, but a roadside drugs swipe came back as positive for cannabis and cocaine.”

The court heard that Smith, of Cromwell Street, Mansfield, was on a suspended sentence for other drugs matters at the time of the incident, and was currently doing unpaid work and rehabilitation activity requirement days with the Probation Service.

Mitigating, Jas Jandu said: “At the time of the offence one of his friend’s mothers was at his address, she was very intoxicated and she intended to drive the vehicle back to her own house.

“He was concerned about the level of intoxication, and he drove the vehicle to prevent her from driving it. He didn’t realise that the drugs were still in his system.”

Magistrates fined Smith a total of £230 and ordered him to pay £85 in prosecution costs and a £34 victim surcharge.

He was also banned from driving for a total of 23 months.

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