A man who drove into a railway halt signal while under the influence of cannabis has been banned for five years and sentenced to community service.

Shawn Martin Arthur, of Governor’s Hill, Douglas, told police he swerved to avoid a pheasant before hitting the signal and causing £3,500-worth of damage.

After pleading guilty to driving while unfit and cannabis possession, the 35-year-old was ordered to do 240 hours of unpaid work.

And magistrates’ chair David Christian told Arthur that they would have jailed him for four months if it had not been for his guilty plea.

Prosecuting advocate Rebecca Cubbon told the court that Arthur was driving his car on May 30 in Laxey at 9.45pm.

Police were called to the scene after a report of him hitting the halt signal for the railway.

Visibility was described as good but the road was wet.

Arthur told officers he had crashed because he swerved to avoid the pheasant.

He passed a roadside breathalyser test but was said to be slurring his words and appeared under the influence of something.

He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs.

Arthur then asked police if he could say goodbye to his son who was in the car.

However, as he returned to his car he was seen emptying his pockets and putting a tube into the footwell.

Police seized the item and it was found to contain cannabis valued at £20.

At police headquarters a blood sample was taken which produced a reading of 2.5 micrograms of THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis.

There is no legal limit in the island but the UK legal limit is two micrograms, which can be used for guidance.

Diazepam was also found to be present.

The court heard that Arthur has a previous conviction for drink-driving in 2011 and had been given a fixed penalty notice for careless driving a few weeks before the latest incident.

Defence advocate Deborah Myerscough handed in letters of reference for her client and asked the court to follow the recommendation of a probation report which suggested community service as an appropriate sentence.

Ms Myerscough said that it had been a year since the offence and there had been no further offending.

’Mr Arthur was sent a bill by the DoI for £3,500 and has paid that off,’ said the advocate.

’He doesn’t earn a particularly large salary so it is to his credit that he has paid it.

’He says he has learnt a valuable lesson. Mr Arthur says he used cannabis the night before the accident but hadn’t realised it would still be in his bloodstream.

’He says that after the 2011 offence he couldn’t obtain a job for two and a half years.

’If he was to lose his job we don’t think that he would have an easy time getting another job after this. He has skills he could give to community service.’

Magistrates chair Mr Christian told Arthur: ’You should count yourself lucky it was only the car and level crossing that were damaged.’

Arthur was also ordered to pay £350 compensation for a doctor’s call out fee and £125 prosecution costs.

He must also retake his test at the end of the five-year ban.