A HOUSEKEEPER was ‘going through a difficult period in her life’ when she was caught drug driving, a court has heard.

Caitlin Millar, of Vicars Fields, Kendal, pleaded guilty at the first opportunity at South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court on October 17 to drug driving and driving without any third-party insurance.

Prosecutor Peter Kelly said officers were alerted to the 22-year-old’s ‘aggressively’ driving her Vauxhall Corsa on Sparrowmire Lane in Kendal at around 7pm on April 17.

Mr Kelly said police pulled the defendant over where they then detected a smell of cannabis coming from inside the vehicle.

The defendant was asked to conduct a DrugWipe test at the roadside, which came back positive for cocaine, the court was told.

As a result, she was arrested and taken into police custody where a sample of her blood was sent for analysis.

The court heard results showed Millar had 13 ug/L of the controlled drug in her system, which exceeded the legal limit of 10 ug/L.

Inquiries revealed the defendant had also been driving whilst uninsured.

Mr Kelly said Millar was previously disqualified from driving for 12 months for a similar drug driving offence in July 2022.

In mitigation, Andy Gallagher said: “She would dispute her driving was aggressive but that is subjective and does not take us anywhere.

“She says she was going through a difficult period in her life at the time and was associated with individuals who had a bad influence on her. However, she has now moved on and is no longer behaving in that manner.

“She is currently working as a housekeeper in the Grange area. She did not realise she had been driving without any insurance. The policy was cancelled due to her having insufficient funds."

Magistrates adjourned sentencing until November 7 after ordering for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.

Magistrates imposed an interim driving ban in the meantime.

She was granted unconditional bail.