Banned, teen who drove packed car after binge on ecstasy and cannabis
A TEENAGER caught driving a car full of friends while high on ecstasy and cannabis following the cancellation of her A-levels has been banned from driving.
Rianna Bulut, 18, was almost four times the limit for MDMA when police stopped her Peugeot 107 due to it being crammed with youngsters – despite the country being in lockdown at the time, a court heard.
The then- college student had apparently tried to perform a three-point turn in the middle of the road moments before being pulled over.
Bulut admitted a charge of driving a motor vehicle with a proportion of a controlled drug above the specified limit at Stockport Magistrates’
‘It will never happen again’
Court and was disqualified from driving for 12 months.
The incident occurred on May 1 – just six months after Bulut got her driving licence – whilst she was a student at Sir John Deane’s Sixth Form College in her home town of Northwich, Cheshire.
The teenager had been preparing for her A-levels, but they were scrapped after schools were closed in March due to the pandemic.
Officers pulled her over at 9.45pm in the village of Pickmere, near Knutsford, as their ‘attention was drawn to the number of young people inside who did not look as if they were from the same household’, prosecutor Laura Keegan said. They pulled her over and – after smelling what officers thought was cannabis – performed a search of the car, the court heard. Miss Keegan said: ‘There was a small amount of cannabis in the vehicle and she admitted it belonged to her. The defendant was told to complete a road-side drug test and it came back positive for cannabis. She was taken into custody and found to have MDMA in her system.’
Tests showed Bulut had 37 micrograms of MDMA – the chemical name for ecstasy – per 100ml of blood. The limit is 10mcg.
Representing herself in court, she said: ‘At the time I took drugs because I thought they would help me. I am very sorry and it will never happen again.’ Bulut said she was working part-time at a community store and earning £485 per month after finishing college, adding: ‘I live at home with my family and they know about this incident.’
Bulut was also fined £120 and ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs. Magistrate Jill Hodges told her it was ‘very sad when someone of good character comes here and loses it by doing something as stupid as driving with MDMA in your blood’.
She warned: ‘It is to your credit that you pleaded guilty but you had the passengers in that car when you were four times the limit and this could have caused a road accident. I hope when you say you are not going to do anything like this again you truly mean it.’