Tube worker from Stratford, who was high on a party drug, walks free from court

A Tube worker from Stratford who turned up for work high on a potent party drug known as ‘coma in a bottle’ has walked free from court.

Martin Gersley, 30, of Ibex House, Forest Lane, was acting strangely and sporting a glazed expression while manning ticket barriers, attracting the attention of colleagues.

When approached by his supervisor he was trembling, disorientated and had a ‘vacant look’, Harrow Crown Court heard on December 21.

Bosses at Shepherd’s Bush station in west London called in paramedics on May 13, who examined Gersley but found he did not need hospital treatment.

Upon searching his belongings police discovered a small bottle containing a clear liquid.

At first Gersley denied knowing how it got into his bag, but later told officers he believed the clear substance to be GBL.

The liquid, normally used as an industrial paint stripper or rust remover, is closely related to notorious club drug GHB, which was banned in 2003 because of its use in date rapes.

GBL, which was later classified a class C drug after it was linked to a series of deaths, is said to produce a high similar to ecstasy, but high doses are known to cause violent spasms, coma and death.

Gersley claimed he received the drug from a mystery man he met on the internet and that his drink had been involuntarily ‘spiked’.

He said he had ‘forgotten’ he had the bottle and had always intended to throw it away.

But prosecutor Michael Latham argued: “He was going to ingest it himself or give it to somebody else.”

Gersley, was found guilty of possession of a class C drug.

He was handed a conditional discharge and ordered to pay �750 in costs.