A 30-year-old motorist who drove under the influence of cannabis has been fined £1,000 and banned from the roads for two years.

Jason Matthew Taylor appeared before magistrates on June 26, admitting the offence, and was also ordered to take an extended driving test at the end of his ban.

Prosecuting advocate Hazel Carroon told the court that police saw Taylor driving a Nissan Navara in Douglas, at 5.50pm on March 9.

They reported black smoke was coming from the exhaust and the car stopped at Cronkbourne Village.

Officers spoke to the defendant and described him as having glazed eyes.

A drug wipe test proved positive for cannabis and he was arrested.

At police headquarters, a blood sample was taken and sent to the UK for analysis.

This later came back with a reading of 2.5 for cannabis, above the legal limit of two.

During an interview, Taylor said he had been offered a ‘little bit of weed’ and had not thought about the aftermath.

He was represented in court by advocate John Wright, who said that the case was a strange tale.

He said that Taylor’s initial drug wipe test had been positive, but then when checked was out of date.

Mr Wright said that a second test had then proved inconclusive, but a third one had proved positive so blood had been taken.

The advocate said that there had been no evidence of bad driving, and that the defendant had only been marginally over the limit.

Magistrates also ordered prosecution costs of £125 to be paid.

Chair of the magistrates David Christian told Taylor: ‘We are hardly having a court on a Thursday now where there isn’t a case of somebody driving with drugs in their system.

‘Unfortunately the message just doesn’t seem to be getting out there.’