A DRUG driver found almost nine times over the limit has been banned from the roads for more than three years following a serious crash.

Ross Madden was involved in a collision while travelling along the A133 Clacton bypass with a child in the car on June 29 last year.

No-one was seriously injured in the crash but both vehicles were significantly damaged and Madden’s car caught alight.

When police tested him after the accident, Madden gave a positive reading for both cocaine and cannabis.

It was later found he was close to being nine times over the drug drive limit for benzoylecgonine, which is a metabolite of cocaine.

He was just short of being three times over the limit for drug driving in relation to cannabis use.

Madden was convicted on two counts of driving a vehicle with a proportion of a specified controlled drug above the specified limit in his system when he appeared at Bristol Magistrates’ Court.

He was banned from driving for 40 months and was ordered to pay a £90 victim surcharge and £85 court costs .

Investigating officer PC Thomas Raes, from the Stanway Roads Policing Unit, said: “The tests revealed that Madden had a large amount of drugs in his system.

“One of these was a by-product of cocaine – meaning the drug may have been in his system for some time.

“He also had a large amount of cannabis in his system.

“Fortunately, no-one was seriously hurt in the collision that Madden was involved in and he has since been banned from driving for a lengthy period of time.

“This hopefully sends a strong message that drug driving is taken just as seriously as drink driving and will not be tolerated by us or by the courts.”

Madden, 28, of Woodview Close, Bristol, will also be required to complete an unpaid work requirement and a community order in addition to his ban.