ACTING on information received from the public, police arrested an Isle of Wight man for driving his Toyota Auris car while more than double the drug-drive limit. 

Benjamin Ratcliffe, of Green Street, Ryde, admitted drug driving, in Wootton, on December 14 last year.

He subsequently lost his employment, as there was driving involved in his job.

At 7.15pm that day, police, having been informed by a member of the public about Ratcliffe potentially drug driving, spotted him driving along High Street, Wootton, and pulled him over. 

The 24-year-old, with no previous convictions, had a passenger in his car.

Ratcliffe voluntarily told officers he had smoked cannabis the night before, before failing a roadside drugs test, said Liz Miller, prosecuting, at the Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court, on June 11.

At Newport Police Station, following his arrest, Ratcliffe provided a blood sample, which revealed he had a reading of 4.9 mg/l of cannabis metabolyte THC. The legal limit is 2.0.

For jobless Ratcliffe, Michael McGoldrick said his client was shocked his cannabis levels were over the legal limit and that it had stayed in his system for so long.

Ratcliffe was banned from driving for a year and fined £240, with £85 costs and a £96 surcharge.