A mum was so ‘out of it’ on cocaine while driving her children to school that a passerby took her car keys and walked her children to class, a court heard.
Hayley Berry, 36, was told by a magistrate that her case was ‘one of the worst examples of drug-driving’ he had ever seen.
Other parents had become concerned after the mum stopped her Ford C-Max in the middle of Grosvenor Road in Broadstairs, Kent, last year.
A stranger – worried she was not in a fit state to drive – took her keys while others walked her children the rest of the way to their school.
Police were called and Berry was arrested at the scene, where it was found she had 83 micrograms of the cocaine byproduct Benzoylecgonine per litre of blood – while the legal limit is 50.
Berry, of Roseberry Avenue, Ramsgate, admitted drug-driving and driving while unfit through drugs when she appeared before magistrates in Margate.
Magistrates heard she also had GHB – a drug with sedative and anaesthetic effects – in her system on the day she was arrested but had not been over the limit.
Lucie Fish, prosecuting, told the court Berry had stopped in the middle of the road with her children in the back on November 11 last year.
Ms Fish said: ‘A man took the keys because she looked like she wasn’t in a fit state [to drive]. He put his hand up and stopped her and did take the keys but then she parked up and some women walked the children to school.’
Nigel Numas, defending, read out a reference from Berry’s cocaine sponsor who said the mum had made some personal growth in the 24 months she had known her.
The reference said she was now making better choices in her life, took full responsibility for her actions, had genuine remorse and was determined to rebuild her life.
Mr Numas added: ‘The process [of her trying to beat cocaine] has been going on a couple of years, but a man she was seeing gave her what she thought was a legal high and she drank it and didn’t realise it was GHB.
‘She’s had two relapses [in the 24 months] so she’s making great strides, but she was naive about what she drank.’
Magistrates jailed Berry for eight weeks but the term was suspended for 12 months. She was also ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
The chairman of the bench said: ‘I must say this is one of the worst examples of drug-driving I’ve come across. You had your youngest children in the back of the car and you were out of it. I don’t want to think what could have happened.’
Berry was also disqualified from driving for 30 months and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £154 and £85 court costs.
She will pay what she owes the court at a rate of £20 a month as she is on Universal Credit.
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