A teenage motorist has been fined £1,000 and banned from the roads for two years after he admitted driving under the influence of cannabis.

Eighteen-year-old Lewis Steven Thompson was more than double the legal limit.

Prosecuting advocate Kate Alexander told magistrates that the defendant was stopped by police on May 12, on Groves Road in Douglas, initially in relation to a defective brake light on his Ford Transit van.

When officers spoke to Thompson, they reported that his pupils were dilated, and he had a dazed look.

A drug wipe test proved positive for cannabis and he was subsequently arrested and taken to police headquarters.

Once there, a blood sample was taken and sent to the UK for analysis.

This later produced a reading of 4.2 for cannabis, which has a legal limit of two.

The court heard that Thompson, who lives at Ballacottier Meadow in Douglas, had no previous convictions.

The defendant was represented in court by duty advocate Paul Glover, who asked the court to deal with the offence by way of a financial penalty.

Mr Glover said that there had been a lack of aggravating factors involved, with no criticism of the standard of the driving, no collision, and no-one injured.

The advocate said that his client was in full-time work and that the driving ban would hit him hard.

Magistrates also ordered Thompson to take an extended driving test at the end of his ban, and to pay £125 prosecution costs.

Magistrates’ chair Julian Ashcroft told the defendant: ‘I think you’ve just found out how serious an offence of driving with drugs in your system is.

‘It’s just as serious as drink-driving.’

Thompson offered to pay the fine and costs at a rate of £50 per month, but magistrates ordered him to pay £100 per month.