Taxi driver overturned his car after taking cocaine

David Deacon said a passenger had previously left the wrap of white powder in his cab so he put some on his finger and tasted it,

Deacon, 31, now a packer in a biscuit factory, of Elgin Place, Grange Park, pleaded guilty to drug driving.

He was banned from the road for 12 months, fined £320 with £40 costs and ordered to pay £32 victims’ surcharge by Blackpool magistrates.

Prosecutor, Martine Connah, said Deacon was taken to hospital on July 3 at 1am after he crashed his electric Nissan Leaf cab into several parked cars and then overturned on the resort’s Lytham Road.

A blood test showed he was almost seven times over the limit with 73 units of cocaine in his body - the specified limit is 10 units.

Gary McAnulty, defending, said his client, who had no previous convictions, was driving his taxi that night when he found the wrap of powder which had been left in his cab.

He had put his finger in it and tried some, not thinking anything about it. Deacon was suffering from blackouts and had had two previously. He had now given up driving a taxi.