A Cheshire beautician has been banned from driving for 14 months after magistrates heard she was more than twice the legal cannabis limit behind the wheel — despite insisting she had only smoked the night before and was not impaired at the time of her arrest.
Annie Banister, 28, from Poynton, appeared at Crewe Magistrates' Court after police stopped her black Mercedes A180 on the A34 at Alderley Edge, near the Merlin pub, at around 2.45pm on 22 October 2025.
How she was stopped
Prosecutor Nigel Jones told the court a patrol officer had seen Banister's car weaving across a roundabout before pulling her over.
She failed a roadside drug wipe test. A subsequent blood sample recorded 4.4 micrograms of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) per litre of blood — more than double the UK legal limit of 2 micrograms per litre.
THC is the main psychoactive compound in cannabis. Britain applies a near-zero-tolerance drug-driving regime for controlled drugs, with fixed blood limits intended to allow only for accidental exposure rather than recent use.
'It was from the night before'
Banister, who had a previous conviction for possessing cannabis, pleaded guilty to drug driving.
She told magistrates she smoked cannabis in the evenings to relax and did not drive while under the influence. She said she was shocked to learn the drug was still detectable around 16 hours later.
"I do not smoke and drive and at the time I was not under the influence. I had not taken cannabis that day — it was from the night before," Banister told the court, according to reporting of the hearing.
She added that she had recently quit cannabis but feared the conviction would cost her job and home, saying: "This has really affected my life."
Sentence
Magistrates fined Banister £230 and ordered her to pay £209 in costs and a victim surcharge. She was disqualified from driving for 14 months.
Chairman of the bench Andrew Kerr told her: "You have brought this entirely upon yourself. Drugs can remain in your system for a substantially longer period than you might otherwise have realised."
What UK cannabis users should know
The case highlights a common misunderstanding among cannabis consumers: feeling sober is not the same as being below the legal blood limit.
THC can remain detectable long after the intoxicating effects have faded, particularly in regular users. Police do not need to prove impairment for a drug-driving conviction — exceeding the statutory limit is enough.
That makes the previous evening's joint legally risky for anyone driving the next afternoon, even on a familiar route through Cheshire commuter villages such as Alderley Edge.
Drug-driving prosecutions have been rising nationally, with cannabis among the most frequently detected substances at the roadside. For medical cannabis patients with a lawful prescription, separate rules apply — but recreational use offers no defence once the blood threshold is crossed.
Reporting note
Court hearings are public and quotes attributed here are drawn from open proceedings as reported by the press. Cannabis Insider was not present in court.
This article is based on reporting by the Manchester Evening News (13 July 2026), which covered Banister's appearance at Crewe Magistrates' Court. Original court photography was credited to Cavendish Press by the MEN.
