The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A teenager from Weston was told by a judge that he had “blown” his promising career for a drug high.
Eighteen-year-old Tristan Chapman was caught drug-driving with two illicit substances in his system.
The result of the conviction is that he has lost his apprenticeship job with a local electrical firm.
Chapman was pulled over near his home in Broadgate, Weston, on November 20 last year for not wearing a seatbelt.
After failing a roadside drug wipe, a blood test in custody showed he was almost three times the specified limits for a cocaine breakdown product and a cannabis metabolite.
Chapman pleaded guilty to two counts of drug-driving.
Dav Naghen, mitigating, told the court his client had only turned 18 about six weeks before the offences.
“He tells me cocaine was taken a number of days before.
“He explained to police he had smoked cannabis the day before.
“It was the drug equivalent of driving with a hangover, perhaps.
“This is not someone who was making a conscious decision to drive around while under the influence of substances.”
Chapman, who had his own works van and was two years into his apprenticeship, had caused himself “some great difficulty”, said the solicitor.
He added: “It was something of a career-changing incident for him.
“He’s lost his job, lost his apprenticeship and may lose his room in a house as a result of this.”
Banning Chapman from driving for 12 months, District Judge Peter Veits told him: “You’ve blown everything by wanting to get high. You’ve only yourself to blame.”
The defendant was also fined £120 and ordered to pay £133 in costs an victim surcharge.
