Methwold woman in King’s Lynn court after being caught drug driving and having cannabis in bag of children’s toys

Police who caught a woman drug driving later found cannabis in the back of her car among children’s toys.

Dani Hagger, 28, of Views Close, Methwold appeared in Lynn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday where she admitted driving when above the specified drug limit as well as having a quantity of cannabis in her possession.

Prosecutor Sally Harris explained that on May 11, police carried out a stop and search on Hagger’s vehicle while she was driving on London Road in Lynn.

This happened at 4pm and police noticed that Hagger’s eyes were glazed over and could smell cannabis. Officers noted that children were also present in the car.

“Police said that the driver (Hagger) became emotional and started to cry,” said Ms Harris.

When officers searched the Citroen C3, they found a grinder and a box of cannabis among a bag of children's toys.

A drugs test was carried out which came back with a reading of 5.9mcg of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol – a variant of cannabis – per litre of blood. The legal limit to drive is 2mcg.

Hagger told police that the cannabis belonged to both her and the passenger in the vehicle and that she took it to help her mental health.

“The aggravating factor is that young children were in the car and that drugs were in the same bag as the children’s toys,” added Ms Harris.

In mitigation, George Sorrell said: “The defendant is the first to acknowledge she had a problem with cannabis.

“She knows it wasn’t the correct thing to do, especially with children in the car. She has now given it (cannabis) up.”

Magistrates, led by Louise Barber, said: “We have no choice but to disqualify you from driving for 12 months.”

On top of the disqualification, she was also fined £80 for drug driving, and also fined an extra £80 for having cannabis in her possession.

She will also pay a victim surcharge of £64 and court costs of £70.