A DRUG-driver spotted on the A55 admitted to police she'd taken substances at a music festival, a court heard.

Jessica Hughes, of Oak Drive in Penyffordd, appeared at Mold Magistrates Court on Thursday.

The 32-year-old admitted that on August 30 last year, she drove a Volkswagen motor vehicle on the A55 at Northop when the proportion of controlled drugs - namely cocaine and Benzoylecgonine (a cocaine breakdown product referred to as 'BZE') - exceeded the specified limit.

Prosecutor Rhian Jackson told the court that at around 1.30am on the day of the offence, police on patrol on the A55 eastbound spotted a black VW Golf.

A check raised questions about the insurance on the vehicle, following which it was stopped at Northop Services.

Hughes gave a positive reading of 43 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath at the roadside - but this had fallen to below the legal limit of 35 microgrammes by the time she gave an evidential reading at the police station.

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She was however tested for drugs - with the results showing she had more than 400 microgrammes of BZE per litre of blood (the legal limit for that being 50) and 65 microgrammes of cocaine per litre of blood (the limit for that drugs being 10.)

Police also detected cannabis in her system at a level of 1.4 microgrammes per litre of blood, but this fell under the legal limit of 2.

Ceri Lewis, defending, told the court her client was up front with the police about the fact she "went to Creamfields" in the days leading up to the offence and had consumed drugs - something she hadn't done before or since.

Ms Lewis said: "She has fully accepted her guilt and is medicated for her mental health problems."

She added her client's inevitable driving ban will impact on her ability to take her children to school and to access work.

District Judge Gwyn Jones handed down fines totalling £400 and ordered the defendant to pay £85 costs, as well as an £80 victim surcharge.

Hughes received a 20 month driving ban.