Drug driver crashed into fence at McDonald's

Cahir Francis McKernan, Ballyoran Park, Portadown, was fined £200 for driving while unfit on December 24 last year.

He was also banned from driving for 15 months and ordered to pay a £15 offender’s levy.

For unlawful possession of cannabis on the same date he was fined £100.

The court heard that police received a report of a possible drunk driver at the McDonald’s restaurant where a car had crashed against a fence.

McKernan was inside the restaurant ordering food. He was unsteady on his feet and his eyes were glazed.

A preliminary breath test gave a zero reading and a small amount of cannabis was found in a tobacco tin in his pocket.

A blood sample was taken and on analysis it showed the presence of a number of drugs in the defendant’s system.

A solicitor representing McKernan said his last appearance in court was in 2006 for road traffic matters.

He explained that his client had taken what he was told was a legal high and the next day he was going to the shopping centre.

The solicitor added that the defendant didn’t have any problems on route to the centre but his condition changed.

The cannabis was for his personal use.

Deputy District Judge Laura Ievers said it was ‘a mercy no-one was injured’.