MAGISTRATES have handed driving bans to two Carlisle motorists after both said they had no idea the cocaine they took would remain in their system for so long.

The two unconnected cases were heard at the city’s Rickergate court and the defence lawyer for each defendant said the offence resulted from “miscalculation” - a failure to realised that the drug would still be in their system when they drove.

The first case was that involving 30-year-old Liam Gilmour. He admitted drug driving.

The court heard that the defendant, of Skiddaw Road, Carlisle, was caught driving a Peugeot Expert in Yewdale Road, Carlisle, on October 19 last year. A test showed that he was over the limit for a breakdown product of the Class A drug cocaine.

His blood reading showed he was just under twice the legal limit.

Duncan Campbell, defending, said: “This was down to the all-too-frequent miscalculation that we are now seeing. He had taken cocaine three days before; and he believed wrongly that everything would have been out of his system.”

As a professional driver, Gilmour took that responsibility seriously, said Mr Campbell. But the defendant had now lost his job because of the offence. Magistrates imposed a 12-month ban and a fine of £120, with costs of £48 and a £48 victim surcharge.

Magistrates then went on to deal with a second drug driving case, also involving cocaine. Joe Trotter, 23, of Caldbeck, also pleaded guilty to driving while over the limit for the cocaine breakdown product benzoylecgonine.

He did this on September 29 last year in Carlisle. Police spotted him driving a VW Golf in the Stonegarth area of Morton.

He produced a positive roadside drugs swipe test result for both cannabis and cocaine, though he was just under the legal limit for the first of those two drugs. He was, however, marginally over the limit for the cocaine breakdown product.

“He thought the drugs he’d taken would be out of his system at the time when he was driving,” said Mr Campbell. “It was a miscalculation, pretty much as in the earlier case. He very much regrets having committed this offence.”

Given the area where the defendant lives, said the lawyer, a driving ban would make life difficult for Trotter.

The presiding magistrate told the defendant, who earns £400 per week as a joiner: “You had two illegal drugs in your system, which you should not have been taking anyway, regardless of whether you were above or below the limit.”

Magistrates did not impose a community order because the drug reading was so low. They imposed a 14-month ban, and a fine and costs totalling £737.