charged with drink driving

[mz k]

i was stopped and breathalised on saturday morning after been out the night before i felt absolutly fine and did not know i would still be ova the limit, when i was stopped the police officer was very rude with me, i was asked to provide a breathtest which the police officer told me how to do, he then kept tellin me i was doing it wrong and was shouting at me, he eventually recorded a reading of 86, and arrested me, i did not no anything about the breathtest or ov the legal amount so did not question this at the time, i was arrested in warrington but was told the police station there was full so was been taken to runcorn, this took approx 15 min to get there, upon arriving there i was giving another breathtest on a machine in the police station, they took 1 reading of 55 and another of 48, upon giving my breathtest i blew into the machine as i had been previously told to do so by the arresting officer, but was told this was incorrect, the arresting police officer was then asking if there was training they could do to use the roadside equipment correctly, surley they should be trained before using the equipment anyway!!!
after giving my breathtest at runcorn police station i was told that they to was full and would have to be transferred to yet another police station, i was told to wait in the reception area till a van arrived to take me there, this was approx 1 hour, i was then taken to middlewich police staion which was a further 30 mins away, i was put into a cell there, then finnaly realised with bail to appear in court in january, i had no money on me, no fone so could not ring any 1 to pick me up as i could not remember any phone numbers of the top of my head, they finally agreed to get a police officer to take me back to warrington where i finally arrived at around 4:30 pm after a long wait 4 an available officer and the 40 mins it took to get back there, upon arriving in warrington the police officer took me to the street where i had been arrested as we was told my car was parked there, we searched the street and could find no sign of my car, i also said to the officer this is not where i was arrested, as i am not from warrington i did not kno the names of any streets so did not question this either when i was given the chargin sheet and asked to sign it, after about another hour we located my car which was 10 mins away from the place we was told it was at, i do not disagree with the fact i was still over the limit but am just appauled that the arrested officer seems not to have given correct information, along with been in a cell all day not knowing how i was goin to get back then not been able to locate my car was very distressing, i have never been in trouble before so all this was new for me, the police officer who drove back was also very shocked at this and told me that i could make a complaint but did not give me any details on how to do this, also i have not been driving for 2 years and wondered what would happen with my licence, as a work as a community care worker my job entails u have transport, also should i see a solicitor to come to court with me and what penalties would i be given. thanks

 

[SeanJoyceStephensons]

As far as I am aware all suspects arrested in the Warrington area are now taken to the new custody suite in Runcorn so there is nothing unusual about that. If you want to complain about your treatment by the police then you should do so by first speaking to an inspector who will take a formal complaint from you. The Inspector will explain how complaints are dealt with internally by the police and you will be notified of the outcome of any investigation at the conclusion. However, this is unlikely to have any impact on the criminal prosecution that you now face unless your legal rights have been breached in some way. Unfortunately there is no requirement for the police to be polite to you or for them to provide an escort back to your car when released from police custody.

Only the lowest of the breath samples you provided will be used or referred to in court. Because this is 48mg in 100ml of breath the police MUST give you the option of replacing the breath sample with a specimen of blood or urine. You make no mention of this in your message and if the police did not give you the option of blood or urine then you cannot be be found guilty of drink driving. This is something that must be documented as part of the police evidence that will be served at court. I would recommend that you take advice from a specialist solicitor before deciding whether to plead guilty or not and you should take steps to arrange this now, before arriving at court. If you want help in organising this then please contact me via the link below.

If you are convicted of drink driving then you will receive a compulsory ban for a minimum of 12 months. Whilst your personal circumstances may help keep the length of ban relatively short, they will not help you avoid a ban completely, no matter how compelling they might be. The drink drive rehabilition course will reduce your ban by 25% and you must ask the court to refer you to the course on the day that you are sentenced.