A MAN who thought he would be fine to drive after a heavy night taking cocaine and MDMA has been banned from the road.

Matthew Bernard Davies had been to a party on Saturday, September 2 where he took ‘a substantial amount’ of cocaine and MDMA - a form of ecstasy.

A court heard how Davies had waited two days before deciding he would be safe to get behind the wheel.

At 2.50pm on Tuesday, September 5, police received a report of an accident on the eastbound sliproad of junction 48 on the M4.

Davies told Llanelli magistrates he had been exiting the motorway when another car hit the rear driver’s side of his vehicle, spinning him into the railings. The car was written off in the crash.

The two drivers exchanged details before the other motorist left the scene.

A member of the public had called police to report the incident and they arrived shortly after the other driver had left.

Davies’ breath tested negative for alcohol, but his car tested positive for traces of drugs when it was swabbed at the roadside. Further tests revealed Davies had a cocktail of drugs in his blood.

The 29-year-old admitted to driving with 800 micrograms of benzoylecgonine - the metabolite of cocaine - in his blood. The legal limit is 50 micrograms.

He also admitted to driving with 23 micrograms of cocaine in his blood - the legal limit being 10.

His blood also tested positive for 75 micrograms of MDMA. The legal limit for driving is 10 micrograms.

Davies’ fourth and final charge was driving with 314 micrograms of oxazepam in his blood. The limit is 300.

Davies, of High Street, Ammanford, pleaded guilty to all four charges.

After meeting with the probation service, a representative told the court Davies had been sober since the incident.

“He is committed to putting himself back on track and is no longer using any drugs or alcohol. This has been a lesson to him, as he has seen what drugs can do.

“He has lost his car and therefore his job as he couldn’t get back and forth to his shifts, and is now in receipt of state benefits,” the probation representative said.

Davies was banned from driving for 23 months and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid community work.

He was ordered to pay £85 court costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

The prosecution comes as an MDMA warning was issued following hospital admissions. Police have issued a warning about the dangers of ecstasy, following a number of hospitalisations.

In the last month, several teenagers have been admitted to hospital suffering the effects of ecstasy, including dangerously high heart rates, sweating, and in one instance a patient had to be put on a ventilator.

The most recent incident being the hospitalisation of a 16-year-old girl on December 13.

A quantity of ‘Rolls Royce’ tablets were also seized last weekend from a property in Brynaman.

Police are urging anyone considering taking ecstasy to not put their lives at risk and be particularly careful if offered MDMA named ‘Ikea’ and ‘Rolls Royce’, both with their respective logos on.