A DRIVER was handed a jail sentence over a crash on the motorway while driving under the influence of drugs.
Thomas Percival was sentenced at Warrington Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty during a previous hearing.
The 30-year-old was convicted of driving without due care and attention, two counts of drug-driving, and one count of possessing cannabis.
The offences were committed on March 2 this year on the M6 northbound between junction 19 for Tabley and junction 20 for the M56 at Lymm.
The court heard Percival was driving a Peugeot, and it was reported that emergency services attended a four-vehicle collision that day involving three cars and a heavy goods vehicle.
The collision at about 7.10pm, with two fire engines sent to the scene.
All traffic was held by National Highways while emergency services dealt with the incident.
Everyone involved was able to leave their vehicles, and ambulance crews assessed one casualty, who had minor injuries, while firefighters made the vehicles safe.
The court heard that blood tests were carried out, and samples from Percival were found to contain benzoylecgonine and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, explained Andrew Page, prosecuting.
The former is the main metabolite of cocaine, and the latter is the primary psychoactive component of cannabis.
Police also found a quantity of cannabis in his possession, which the court ordered to be forfeited and destroyed.
Before sentencing, magistrates deemed that the offences were so serious that only a custodial sentence could be justified.
It was also decided that the sentence should not be suspended, as the offences resulted in an accident occurring, and because there was evidence of a high level of impairment.
Percival, whose address on court documents was given as HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs in London, was sentenced to seven weeks in prison.
He was also disqualified from driving for 18 months and ordered to pay £85 in court costs to the Crown Prosecution Service and a £154 victim surcharge.
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