A visiting biker who rode after taking cocaine the night before has been fined £1,000 and banned from the roads for two years.

Paul William Thompson, from Deeside in North Wales, tested positive for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine.

Magistrates also ordered the 54-year-old to take an extended test at the end of his ban, which will apply in the UK as well as the Isle of Man.

Prosecuting advocate Barry Swain told the court that police were at the Bungalow on the Mountain Road on August 25, at 11.10am, during the Festival of Motorcycling.

They saw Thompson riding a Yamaha R1 through a red light and subsequently pulled him over at Brandywell.

He was described as having glazed eyes, slurred speech, and acting slightly erratically.

A roadside drug wipe test proved positive for cocaine and cannabis, and Thompson was arrested and taken to police headquarters.

A sample of blood was taken and sent to the UK for analysis.

This later produced a reading of 240 for benzoylecgonine, the metabolite of cocaine.

The legal limit for that drug is 50.

In court, Thompson pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of benzoylecgonine and failing to conform to a traffic direction.

A third charge, of having no vehicle licence, was withdrawn by the prosecution.

Defence advocate Darren Taubitz said that his client had been on the island to watch the Grand Prix festival and admitted that he had gone out the night before and foolishly taken cocaine. Thompson said that he had felt ok in the morning.

Regarding the traffic lights, he said that he had not appreciated there had been a stop sign there and that the lights had only just changed.

Mr Taubitz said that the defendant had co-operated with the police fully, entered immediate guilty pleas, and had had this hanging over him for a considerable amount of time, while the test results were awaited.

The advocate said that his client ran a scaffolding company, so the inevitable driving ban would impact him significantly. Mr Taubitz said that the defendant’s bike had been seized and the police still had it, so he would now have to arrange for it to be transported off the island.

Magistrates fined Thompson, who lives at Hadfield Close, Connah’s Quay, £1,000 for the drug-driving offence and made no separate penalty for the traffic violation.

He was also ordered to pay £125 prosecution costs.