A drug driver who caused a terrifying crash as he sped along the M6 near Carlisle at 100mph had almost 30 times the legal limit for a cocaine breakdown product in his system.

Thomas John Jones, 23, who was delivering a BMW car to Scotland as to settle a £2,000 drugs debt, was uninsured and had no proper driving licence at the time of the accident on February 10.

When police later quizzed him about the accident, he gave the officers a false name.

At Carlisle Crown Court, the defendant was jailed for eight months after he admitted a raft of offences linked to the accident, which left another motorist injured.

Gerard Rogerson, prosecuting, said Jones was driving north along the motorway past Todhills, a short distance from Carlisle, at 5.30pm when he lost control of the car.

The motorist who was injured told police the defendant’s car struck his vehicle, causing it to spin into the central reservation crash barrier, leaving it with significant damage. He had been doing between 65mph and 70mph.

But witnesses said that the defendant’s car was around 100mph. After pulling up 50 metres along the road, Jones began unloading belongings from the BMW.

When the police arrived, the defendant gave them a false name. “It took him several attempts to spell his own name,” said Mr Rogerson, saying this raised the suspicion of the officers.

A blood test revealed that as well as the cocaine breakdown produce, in his system was 1.4 times the legal limit for cocaine, and twice the permitted amount of cannabis.

In court, the defendant admitted three drug driving offences, attempting to pervert the course of justice by giving a false name, careless driving, uninsured driving, and driving without no proper licence.

Kim Whittlestone, for Jones, said he was suffering post-traumatic stress after an incident while he was last in custody. At the time of the accident, he was in the grip of a cocaine addiction.

“He was classed as vulnerable and as a result of a drug debt he was at the beck and call of others,” said the barrister.

One of those people had demanded that to wipe out a £2,000 drug debt he had to deliver the car to somebody in Scotland.

Since the accident, said Miss Whittlestone, Jones, from Minehead Road, Wolverhampton, had started work as a plasterer, and he was regularly drug tested at work.

“He’s been addressing his drug addiction,” added the barrister.

Judge James Adkin described the level of cocaine breakdown product in the defendant’s system as extraordinary. “How in this situation you ever thought it was appropriate to drive a BMW at that speed I will never know,” he said.

“Only custody can be justified.” The judge banned Jones from driving for a year.