A DRUGS driver stopped in Skipton unusually passed a 'drivers impairment test', but tested positive for cocaine, heard magistrates.

Joe Thompson, 27, was stopped by police on Broughton Road on March 24. He proved negative at the roadside for alcohol, but positive for cocaine and was taken to Harrogate Police Station where a blood test later revealed he had 200 microgrammes of the cocaine by-product, Benzoylecgonine in 100 millilitres of blood, the specified limit is 50.

Thompson, who admitted drugs driving, was a very occasional user of cocaine and had believed he was capable of driving, the Skipton court was told yesterday in mitigation

Unusually, the police had carried out a field impairment test, used by officers before swab tests were brought in, and involving walking along a straight line and touching toes and ears, and he had passed it, the court was told.

Thompson accepted he had been over the prescribed limit, and it was not intended as a defence, but it was an unusual situation, his solicitor said.

But magistrates said while accepting there were some unusual circumstances, they did not consider them to be special measures, and added he knew he had taken cocaine.

Thompson, a man of previous good character, of Portland Street, Colne, was banned from driving for 12 months, fined £436 and ordered to pay costs of £310 and a surcharge of £43.