Police stopped a vehicle piled high with pallets on the outskirts of Harrogate yesterday (May 9).
Sargent Paul Cording from the roads policing team at North Yorkshire Police, shared details on X, formerly Twitter.
He said:
“A little bit of digging showed the vehicle to be on false plates along with the obvious insecure load.
“As often happens though one thing leads to another, and the driver tested positive for cannabis on a drug wipe.”
Sgt Cording said further inspection revealed the vehicle had false registration plates.
He added:
“The driver was arrested and an evidential blood sample has been obtained which will be sent of for analysis.”
One from yesterday when we stopped this on the outskirts of #Harrogate A little bit of digging showed the vehicle to be on false plates along with the obvious insecure load. As often happens though #OneThingLeadsToAnother & the driver tested positive for cannabis on a @DrugWipeUK pic.twitter.com/FjpEALmxz4
— Sgt Paul Cording BEM (@OscarRomeo1268) May 10, 2024
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Drug driver who fled police through Harrogate district at 130mph jailed
A drug driver has been jailed after speeding through villages in the Harrogate district at more than 130 miles per hour while trying to evade police.
William Geoffrey Mann, 22, was found to have used cocaine and was several times over the limit when arrested in September last year.
He reached speeds of up to 137 miles per hour while trying to evade officers on rural roads.
Mann failed to stop in Kirk Deighton near Wetherby before speeding through Hunsingore, Cattal, Whixley, Aldborough, Boroughbridge and Bishop Monkton.
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North Yorkshire Police pursued Mann through the villages around Wetherby and Boroughbridge, where he reached 90 miles per hour in a Mercedes.
Officers closed in on him in Burton Leonard, where Mann crashed into an unmarked police car and was arrested.
Mann, a delivery worker from Wetherby, was taken into custody and charged with drug driving, dangerous driving and failing to stop.
He pleaded guilty and was jailed for eight months at York Crown Court today. He was also banned from driving for a year and will have to take an extended retest.
Sergeant Julian Pearson, of the force’s Roads Policing Group, captured the pursuit on his police in-car video system and led the investigation against Mann.
He said:
“Mann made a conscious decision to fail to stop for the police, his judgment clouded by his recent drug usage. This, combined with dangerous high speed driving, is a lethal combination.
“This was a prolonged, determined and dangerous attempt to evade capture for drug driving, putting himself, his passengers, other road users and the police at serious risk.”
Sgt Pearson added:
Cannabis driver disqualified after skidding into skid risk sign“When a vehicle is requested to stop and the driver refuses, the police have no idea why. It could be for a multitude of reasons and in Mann’s case it was for drug driving. Had he stopped then he would have been dealt for that offence and most likely not in prison as he is today.
“We make absolutely no apologies for catching drivers like Mann – we regularly see the carnage and heartbreak they cause innocent people. So I’m glad the courts have taken another dangerous driver off our roads and have protected our communities.”
A drug driver who skidded into a skid risk road sign has been handed a year-long driving ban.
Harry Franklin Waudby, 20, of Wetherby, lost control of his car and crashed in front of a police vehicle in Tockwith in June.
The officers just happened to be passing when they saw the crash and stopped to help.
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Nobody was seriously hurt in the incident but Waudby tested positive for cannabis.
At a hearing at Harrogate Magistrates’ Court, he pleaded guilty to drug driving .
As well as the 12 month driving disqualification, the magistrates fined Waudby £233 and told him to pay £85 in court costs.
Speaking after the sentencing, traffic constable Michael Rowan said:
“As traffic officers we frequently deal with drug drivers and it’s an incredibly selfish and dangerous offence. Anyone who does it is a hazard to themselves as well as innocent road users, and we endeavour to catch as many as possible.”