Student caught drug-driving in Mansfield hit with road ban

Reagan Murdoch's white Suzuki Swift was stopped on Pump Hollow Road, at 2.20am, on October 11, last year, said prosecutor Robert Carr.

Officers said they had spotted him twice earlier that night, once carrying a bag of beer cans and once when he was ‘parked outside a house they were interested in’.

A test revealed he had 2.8 mcgs of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, in his system – when the prescribed limit is 2mcgs.

Jameel Malik, mitigating, said Murdoch smoked the drug the night before and didn't realise that ‘cannabis stays in your system for a very, very long time’.

He said on that evening he was the designated driver and didn't drink or smoke cannabis, but two passengers in his car were.

"He was passive smoking," said Mr Malik. "I would say it is similar to having your drink spiked."

He said Murdoch was left ‘surprised’ when police officers returned his keys to him and let him drive home after his arrest.

The court heard he has one previous conviction for possession of a blade from earlier this year.

Murdoch, 19, of Ruby Court, Southwell, pleaded guilty to the driving offence at Nottingham Magistrates Court, on Wednesday, March 10.

Magistrates fined him £80 and also ordered him to pay £85 towards court costs and a victim surcharge of £34.

He was banned from driving for 12 months.

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