Drug-driver caught with cocaine was 13 TIMES over limit
Car dealer was spotted staggering into range rover by police
A CAR dealer was caught at the wheel of his Range Rover while 13 times the drug-drive limit, a court heard.
Peter Pollastretti, 57, from Bramhall, tested positive when he was pulled over following a night out in Cheshire with his girlfriend.
Police were sitting in an unmarked BMW when they spotted Pollastretti staggering to his car, which was parked in a disabled bay outside a Starbucks in Knutsford, it was heard.
The officers followed him and pulled him over.
Pollastretti, who lives 15 miles away in Bramhall, failed an alcohol breath test at the roadside but was further tested for drugs when he was found to have five snap bags of cocaine on him when searched at a police station.
A blood sample showed 46 microgrammes of cocaine per litre of blood and 662 microgrammes of the cocaine compound benzoylecgonine per litre of blood. The legal limits are 10 microgrammes for cocaine and 50 microgrammes for benzoylecgonine. He was then found to be under the limit for drink-driving.
At Stockport magistrates court Pollastretti admitted possessing cocaine, but denied drug-driving, claiming he swallowed the drug whilst being escorted to Middlewich police station in the back a patrol car.
He was found guilty of the charge and banned from the road for 12 months. He was also fined £1,250 with £895 costs.
The incident occurred at 3am on November 19.
Nick Smart, prosecuting, added: “Officers could smell alcohol on the driver’s breath. He failed a roadside test, was taken to a local police station and during the course of a search, five snap bags were seized from him. He wasn’t charged for drink-driving after giving a negative reading but because of the finding of drugs and conditions of the offence, the officers suspected he was under the influence of drugs whilst driving. He was well above the limit.”
Pollastretti, who appeared in court under his real name Pietro Antonio Pollastretti, gave no comment in police interview. Talking about his journey to the police station he told the magistrates: “I had something in my pocket that I was worried about if I got searched when I got to the police station and I did something a little silly.
“I took my wallet out of my inside pocket and took out a small bag with some cocaine and began to ingest it to swallow it. When the driver of the vehicle said ‘what are you doing back there?’ I said I was just checking to see if I had got any money to get a taxi home with.”
He added: “I did take cocaine in the back of the police car. My solicitor told me to say no comment during the interview. I have never been in custody before so I didn’t know what to do. I know I had plenty of opportunity to tell the truth – I’m just trying to tell the truth now.”
Pc Lee Jones, of Cheshire Police, said: “When we took him into custody. He seemed to be a tolerable chap, mature and compliant and we didn’t think there was a reason to handcuff him.”