Mother with three children who crashed car under influence of cocaine and exceeded legal alcohol limit by six times avoids imprisonment.

A mother of three drug drivers who crashed her car after drinking cocaine has not been sent to prison.

Claire Toland overturned her Peugeot 206 after losing control on hitting a curb before smashing through a traffic sign and plowing into the wall of a house while standing on the roof.

The 43-year-old later was six times the legal drug limit — failing a drug test with a reading that showed 323 micrograms of benzoylecgonine (BZE) the major metabolite of cocaine per liter of blood in her system, with a legal limit of 50 mg.

She also tested positive for cocaine itself with 11 micrograms of the class A white powder in her system, the legal limit being 10mg.

But Toland, from Withington, Manchester, was not jailed after JP’s accepted her claims that she felt safe to drive. The mother-of-three was instead fined £120 and banned from driving for 12 months.

At Stockport Magistrates’ Court, Toland admitted to driving under the influence of drugs, but insisted she did not feel “intoxicated” at the time of the crash, claiming she only lost control of her car while driving a dodged vehicle driving on the wrong side of the road. She also argued that she had used cocaine just days before the crash and that most of it had cleared from her system by the time of the impact.

JPs said it wasn’t clear if her senses would be “impaired” at the time, but they were banned from driving for 12 months.

Toland had previously scrapped plans to appeal to keep her driver’s license under the “special reasons” legal provisions.

Tineka O’Mara, prosecutor, said: “Officers actually responded to a hit-and-run on March 23 last year. The incident occurred as the defendant was driving on Longford Road West in Stockport. Her vehicle went off the road and hit a curb causing the vehicle to flip over. The vehicle continued on the road for several meters and collided with a street sign and a wall of a residential house. The wall was damaged.

“Agents have been on the scene and have spoken to the driver, the defendant, who was still at the scene. The officers performed a roadside breath test and also a Drugwipe test. There was a positive Drugwipe test for cocaine.

“The defendant was taken into custody where a blood sample was taken for examination.

‘For cocaine it said 11 micrograms per litre, which is slightly more than the prescribed limit of 10. But for BZE the result came out at 323 micrograms per litre, the legal limit is 50.’

Miss O’Mara said Toland had no prior convictions. The court heard that, despite being charged with two drug offenses, she should only be convicted of one drug, as BZE is a by-product of cocaine.

In mitigation, Toland’s attorney, Terry Maddocks, said, “She was going through a particularly difficult time when the crime happened. She suffered a bereavement following the loss of her mother and is a single parent caring for her 11-year-old son, who has been diagnosed with severe autism.

She befriended a pretty heavy cocaine user and started using cocaine, which she said eased the symptoms of depression and allowed her to socialize. She had not used any cocaine on the day of the accident and indeed the reading for that is only one microgram above the 10 microgram limit. It only needs a small amount of cocaine to be affected.

‘It is also believed that BZE does not cause any disorder at all. The test for BZE is really only because cocaine breaks down quite quickly, so the BZE test means drug drivers don’t fall through the criminal investigation net.’

Maddocks said Toland is no longer associating with the woman who pushed her to use cocaine. The lawyer said she is also looking after two other children, aged two and six, along with her 11-year-old son, adding that the driving ban would create difficulties for her.

He said, “She is solely responsible for taking care of the children. She has taken them to school before, but she will have to use public transportation.

“A vehicle was approaching her in the wrong lane. She swerved to take evasive action. She didn’t think she was over the limit and she didn’t feel she was being disadvantaged by using cocaine. She felt it was only because she had to take evasive action.

“There were no injuries but damage to the wall.”

Toland was also ordered to pay £134 in costs and victim compensation. JP Larry Collier said, “Your attorney explained that you were just dodging the other vehicle. We’ll never know whether your senses were affected by whatever drug you took, but we’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.’