A Tyre Stop Left a Wisbech Driver With a Cannabis Fine

Rudolfs Simkuns was fined £376 for possessing 1.25g of cannabis resin after police in King’s Lynn stopped his Volkswagen Golf for two flat tyres. The 21-year-old from Tinkers Drove, Wisbech, pleaded guilty at King’s Lynn magistrates’ court and offered no defence.

The stop was on 17 May 2024. The same bench had already fined him for laughing gas on the Thursday sitting reported the previous week.

Two Flat Tyres on Nar Ouse Way

Abdul Khan, prosecuting by video link, said officers pulled the Golf on Nar Ouse Way after they saw both nearside tyres were down. When they spoke to Simkuns they saw a canister normally associated with nitrous oxide in the driver’s footwell, and they asked him out of the car so they could search it.

The car search found nothing. As he got back in, officers saw him put something into his shorts pocket, then found a small plastic bag with a small amount of herbal cannabis. In interview he made full admissions about the cannabis. The plea recorded at court was possession of 1.25g of cannabis resin, a different form from the herbal bag, and magistrates ordered both forfeited and destroyed.

HOW THE TYRE STOP BECAME A DRUG SEARCH

• The trigger: Both nearside tyres on the Golf were deflated on Nar Ouse Way on 17 May 2024.
• In plain view: Officers noted a canister normally associated with nitrous oxide in the driver’s footwell.
• The empty search: Simkuns was taken out of the car and the vehicle search found nothing.
• The pocket: Officers then saw him put something into his shorts pocket and recovered a small herbal bag, with the plea later put at 1.25g of resin.

He appeared with no lawyer. Khan put the facts; Simkuns said nothing in mitigation, and the bench treated it as a straightforward possession case.

Magistrates Had Already Fined Him for Laughing Gas

On 16 May 2024, the Thursday before that Golf stop, Rudolfs Simkuns was in the same building on a Class C charge. Police had pulled him on London Road in Lynn on 27 January 2024 over his manner of driving. He told officers he had recently inhaled laughing gas, and they found three nitrous oxide canisters in the car.

He accepted at the roadside that the canisters were his and gave no reason for having them. At court he worked as a timber engineer and lived with his parents. He pleaded guilty to possession of a Class C drug.

I was with another occupant. They were actually his, but they were in my car, so it was my problem. That is all I have got to say.

Rudolfs Simkuns, to King’s Lynn magistrates

Magistrates fined him £112, with £85 costs and a £45 victim surcharge, a bill of £242. That hearing closed on the Thursday. The Golf with the flat tyres, and another canister in the footwell, was stopped the next day.

Why the Footwell Canister Was Not Charged

Nitrous oxide possession has been illegal from 8 November 2023 where the gas is, or is likely to be, wrongfully inhaled. The Home Office put it in Class C and kept lawful use for medicine, dentistry, catering and industry. A canister on a car floor is not, on its own, the offence; the prosecution has to show the intended use, and the holder can try to show a legitimate one.

Before that date, possession was not previously an offence outside prisons unless it was with intent to supply. The January stop came 80 days after the change, and Simkuns had already told officers he had just inhaled the gas, which is why that file was charged as Class C possession. The 17 May report records the footwell canister and an empty car search, then a cannabis admission. No nitrous count appears on that charge sheet.

A pocket bag with a confession is a clean possession case. A single canister without a fresh admission is a harder Class C trial, even for a driver who had been sentenced for the same gas the day before. The resin plea is the one the bench took.

£376 for 1.25 Grams of Resin

For Class B possession, which is where cannabis sits, the Sentencing Council sets a Band B fine starting point. The Lynn bench set the fine at £208 and added the usual extras rather than a discharge or unpaid work.

THE CANNABIS BILL IN LYNN

• The fine: Magistrates set it at £208 for the resin plea.
• The costs: He was ordered to pay £85 in court costs.
• The surcharge: A victim surcharge of £83 took the total to £376.
• The drugs: The herbal bag and the 1.25g of resin were forfeited for destruction.

Police can deal with some adult cannabis finds with a warning or an on-the-spot fine of up to £90. That route is built for a first simple find. Simkuns arrived at the Golf stop with a Class C conviction from the previous day and a January roadside admission already on his record, so the file went to court instead of being closed in the street.

An Uninsured BMW and Nine More Canisters

The cannabis order did not end the pattern. On Wednesday 2 April 2025, then 22 and described as a factory worker, Simkuns was stopped in a BMW on St James Street in King’s Lynn after he kept sounding the horn. Officers found nine canisters of nitrous oxide on the floor. The car was uninsured.

He told police he had found the canisters and put them in the car. The court was told he had three previous drug-related offences. George Sorrell, his solicitor, said he could not explain why he did it and that he had made a mistake.

On 31 July 2025 he pleaded guilty at King’s Lynn magistrates’ court to possession of the Class C drug for wrongful inhalation and to driving without insurance. The bench fined him £292 for each offence, then added a £234 victim surcharge and £85 costs, a bill of £903, and ordered the gas destroyed. This time the charge used the wrongful-inhalation wording the 17 May footwell canister never received.

A Cocaine Test Followed Doughnuts in Wisbech

On 21 November 2025 officers were called to the Oasis Children’s Centre in Wisbech over a car doing doughnuts on the grass. Simkuns, by then 23, was arrested there and failed a drug test for cocaine. He later admitted drug-driving, criminal damage and driving without a licence.

On 6 February 2026 at Peterborough magistrates’ court he was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for a year, and 150 hours of unpaid work. The cannabis resin file from the Golf was still a fine. This one was custody, held in reserve.

FOUR HEARINGS ON ONE RECORD

A Cambridgeshire Police spokesperson said Simkuns’ behaviour was completely reckless, and that it was lucky nobody was injured because of his actions. The 1.25g resin plea is the only cannabis conviction in that stack, and it still sits in the middle, opened by two flat tyres the day after a laughing-gas fine.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Maximum Sentence for Cannabis Possession in England?

Cannabis is a Class B drug, so the maximum for possession is 5 years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both if the case is sent to the Crown Court. In a magistrates’ court the Sentencing Council range for Class B possession runs from a discharge to 26 weeks’ custody, and the bench can put a drug rehabilitation requirement on a community order if the offender is dependent and treatment has a real chance of working.

Can Police Give a £90 Ticket for Cannabis Instead of Court?

Adults found with cannabis can be given a cannabis warning or a penalty notice for disorder of up to £90 instead of a charge, and the same on-the-spot fine route exists for khat. Repeat finds, other offences on the same stop, or an existing drug record commonly push the case into a caution or a court summons rather than a ticket paid on the street.

Are All Nitrous Oxide Canisters Illegal to Carry?

Home Office guidance says every canister size is illegal if the holder has no legitimate use, from a small cream charger to a large bottle. Medical, dental, veterinary, industrial and catering uses remain lawful, but the person in possession has to show they fall inside that exception, and police decide that on the facts of each stop.

What Extra Penalties Apply to Nitrous Oxide Supply?

Unlawful production, supply, import or export of nitrous oxide now carries up to 14 years in prison, double the old maximum, plus an unlimited fine. Simple possession for wrongful inhalation can bring an unlimited fine, a visible community punishment or a caution, and repeat serious offenders face up to 2 years in prison.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting on public court outcomes and Home Office rules, and it is for information only. It is not legal advice, a sentencing prediction, or guidance on how to handle a stop, a charge, or a guilty plea. Anyone facing a drug or driving allegation should speak to a qualified criminal defence solicitor before making a decision. Fines, charges and court statuses are those recorded in the cited hearings and official guidance and can change with new facts or later cases.