An assistant hotel manager whose car burst into flames after he crashed while under the influence of drugs has been banned from driving.
Joshua Owen Crofts, 25, of Vounog Hill, Penyffordd near Mold, appeared from custody at North East Wales Magistrates’ Court at Mold, after a warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to turn up on an earlier occasion.
Crofts admitted that he was over the cannabis limit when his Volkswagen Golf crashed into railings on the A550 at Tinkersdale near Dobshill, Flintshire.
The court heard that he had a level of 3.5 miligrammes of cannabis in his blood compared to the legal limit of two.
He was banned from driving for a year and fined £300 with £80 costs and a £30 surcharge.
Prosecutor Helen Tench said that police attended the scene of a one vehicle road traffic collision shortly before 2am and found the vehicle embedded in railings.
There was substantial damage, the fire service was in attendance and the vehicle was ablaze.
Crofts was at the scene, he identified himself as the driver to the police.
He told how he had not taken cannabis that day, but had some the day before.
Interviewed, he said that he lost control while negotiating a left hand bend.
Crofts had no previous convictions.
A warrant for his arrest had been issued on December 31 when he failed to attend court.
Crofts was said to be the assistant manager at a local hotel.
He had stayed at the hotel over the Christmas period and it was only when he returned home that he saw the letter and immediately contacted the police.
The defendant had handed himself in to police and had been brought to court in custody, said defending solicitor Ceri Lewis.
He had never been in trouble before and being held in custody for some hours had been a salutary lesson for him.
Crofts had already suffered loss because his car had been destroyed in the fire last September.
District Judge Gwyn Jones said that illicit substances remained in the system far longer than most people realised.
