A 21-year-old woman was found unconscious at the wheel of her car after she snorted cocaine and inhaled laughing gas during a road jaunt.
Madison Boscoe-Hough was reported to police by a passerby when she was seen passed out in the driver’s seat of her Audi A1 on Wilmere Lane in Widnes, Cheshire, at 7.44pm on August 2.
When officers arrived, they found Ms Boscoe-Hough unresponsive with an empty balloon in her mouth and a canister on her lap.
The engine was running, music was playing, the car was in gear, her foot was on the brake, and her mobile phone was on her lap.
Ms Boscoe-Hough started to come around but said to have made ‘no sense verbally’.
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She was arrested after failing a drug wipe test that showed the presence of cocaine.
Subsequent blood tests showed Ms Boscoe-Hough, who lives in the village of Sutton Leach, Merseyside, had 68 micrograms of benzoylecgonine (BZE) per litre of blood. BZE is a breakdown product of cocaine, and the legal limit is 50mcg/l.
At Warrington magistrates’ court Boscoe-Hough pleaded guilty to drug driving and was banned from driving for 20 months and fined £346 with £223 in costs and a surcharge.
Mr Umer Zeb, prosecuting, said: ‘Cheshire Police received a call from an anonymous member of the public stating that a female was unconscious or asleep at the wheel.
‘It seems the concerned motorist had followed her after seeing her with a balloon in her mouth.
‘Officers arrived at the scene, but they could not get a response from the female.
‘She had an empty balloon in her mouth with a large canister in her lap. Music was on. Her foot was on the brake.
“The ambulance was already at the scene. The officers managed to gain entry to the front passenger side.
‘The defendant had her mobile phone on her lap… She made no sense verbally when she came out of a state of unconsciousness.
Mr Zeb said the defendant failed a drug test and was arrested and taken to the hospital due to an elevated heart rate.
She was later discharged and taken to a custody suite, where a blood sample was taken.
The defendant has no previous convictions.
Boscoe-Hough, who was unrepresented, told the court in mitigation: ‘That is pretty much what happened. I do not have much more to add. That is essentially what happened.’
But JP Ian Johnstone said: ‘You were unconscious, the engine was on and the car was in gear. This was a totally unacceptable standard of driving.’
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