Failure to provide a breath sample

[Ellaj]

Hi,

my mum is due in court on Monday with two charges 1. Driving under the influence of alcohol 2. Failure to provide a breath sample.

My mother was stopped by the police whilst driving her car. They believed she was driving under the influence of alcohol, a breath test at the side of the road confirmed she was indeed over the legal alcohol limit and she was arrested and taken to a Police Station. Whilst at the station she was asked to blow again into a calibrated machine to measure alcohol levels ; however my mother was simply unable to blow hard enough into the machine.


A week or so later my mother received a letter confirming her court date, she duly attended and whilst there was made aware that she faced two charges the first obviously for driving under the influence of alcohol and the second for failure to provide a breath test. Whilst my mother doesn't dispute she was over the legal alcohol limit and regrets her actions hugely, she has stated that she tried to blow into the machine however she was I great pain and unable to.

Since them she has been diagnosed with a hiatus hernia and breast cancer. The hiatus causes breathing problems. We thought she was going to get legal aid but it appears not. I'm going with her to court and have asked her consultant to confirm her medical issue in writing but we're running out of time.

one thing is should she plead guilty or not guilty at the trail on Monday?

Many thanks in advance

Ella

 

[SeanJoyceStephensons]

I am unsure how your mother is being prosecuted for both drink driving and failing to provide a specimen. If the Crown Prosecution Service are to prove that mother was over the legal limit they are required to show 2 evidential breath specimens proving this fact. The roadside test is simply a preliminary test rather than an evidential test and cannot therefore be proof of drink driving.

If your mother has a medical explanation for why she was physically unable to provide the requisite specimens of breath then she will have a defence to the charge. Whether she will be successful with that I cannot say. This will be dependant on a number of factors such as the prosecution evidence and the medical evidence you have to support the defence. I cannot therefore advise your mother how to plead at the hearing, she will have to make this decision herself based on the evidence she has at the moment.