Gran, 34, blames being high during school run on petrol bomb attack

A 34-year-old grandmother arrested by police for driving the school run while high, has blamed it on a petrol bomb attack. Samantha Eaton, 34, was stopped during a routine check on her way to collect her daughter from school in the Bebington area of the Wirral in Merseyside last September.

Tests revealed that the mother-of-two had nearly one-and-a-half times the legal limit of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - the psychoactive component of the Class B substance - in her system.

In a bid to challenge the reading, her father paid for a private blood test, but the results confirmed she was above the 2mg legal limit. Eaton confessed to drug driving, but avoided a prison sentence and was instead given a three-year driving ban, reports the Mirror.

The former care worker has a history of encounters with the law, including a drink-driving conviction in 2020 and previous offences for possessing a Class A substance, being drunk and disorderly, and a car insurance-related misdemeanour.

She was hit with a £160 fine, plus £264 in costs and surcharge at Sefton Magistrates' Court. Prosecutor Lynne Sayers said: "On September 12 the defendant was on the way to pick her children up when she pulled over a routine stop.

"She co-operated with the officer and provided a positive reading for a drug saliva test. She was taken to custody where she provided a blood sample and which was over the limit. There are no aggravating features in this case. There were no passengers and no accidents."

The court heard that Eaton was compelled to flee her home in 2023 after a petrol bomb assault connected to her former partner's criminal dealings.

Speaking in her own defence, she described the ordeal endured by her family.

She said: "I have got two children and I have had to move out of the area for our own safety. I was petrol bombed and it was associated with who my ex-partner had trouble with.

"I left him seven years ago but my family home was petrol bombed and I had to move out of the area. It was night and I was in the bedroom. They literally petrol bombed the front door. It was horrendous and traumatic."

Eaton revealed she began using cannabis as a sleep remedy, unaware it would leave her above the legal threshold when officers pulled her over.

She added that she has since been given alternative medication and has stopped taking the substance.

She went on: "I am a single parent and that is why I thought cannabis once per night would help me to sleep. I was picking up my daughter on that day. She attends a special needs school. I would never dream of picking the kids up if I knew I was over the limit."

The grandmother admitted to having a "bad past" and voiced fears that the driving prohibition will drastically impact her life.

She said: "We are 30 minutes drive from anywhere we know. Where we are we do not know anybody.

"My dad knows the situation, that is why he offered to pay to question the blood test. It came back 'over'. It was 'just over'. We thought I might possibly be over but my dad's words were 'No harm in trying'.