If you are accused of ‘drink driving’ you may be prosecuted for driving whilst unfit or, most commonly, for driving with excess alcohol.

To be convicted of driving with excess alcohol the prosecution must show that at the time when you were driving, you had excess alcohol in your blood, urine or breath.

The following limits apply in all drink drive cases:

• 35 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath
• 80 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood
• 107 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of urine

Prosecutions for drink driving normally arise when a motorist has been stopped at the roadside by a police officer and required to comply with a roadside breath test.

Where the roadside breath test results in a ‘fail’ the motorist will be arrested and taken to a police station to prove the precise amount of alcohol in their system.

The sample taken at the police station is usually a further sample of breath which is taken and measured for alcohol using a breath testing machine.
In certain circumstances, the police are permitted to take samples of blood or urine instead of, or, in addition to a sample of breath.

A sample of blood must always be taken by a doctor. When blood and urine samples are taken, they are usually sent away for laboratory testing to establish the precise amount of alcohol within them.

Failure to comply with the requirement to provide a sample at the police station can result in prosecution for the separate offence of failing to provide a specimen.

If you believe that you have been wrongly accused of ‘drink driving’ we can closely examine the circumstances of your case and advise you as to any potential defences.

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Improper Procedure
The Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 set out very strict procedural guidelines that must be followed in all cases when a motorist is required to provide specimens of breath, blood or urine. If those procedures have not been properly followed by the police it may be possible to argue that the prosecution should fail

Machine malfunction
Occasionally, the police’s machines can malfunction and produce false readings. All police machines must be properly calibrated and in good working order.

The ‘Hip Flask’ Defence
There is a legal presumption that the amount of alcohol found in a motorist’s body at the police station would have been the same as the amount of alcohol in their body when they were driving. However, I have advised several clients who have consumed alcohol after they drove but before they were breath tested and, therefore, wish to argue that they were not over the limit at the time when they drove. This is often described as the ‘hip flask defence’.

Punishment
A fine, up to 6 months imprisonment and disqualification for a minimum period of one year.