Breathalyser testing

Convicted Driver Insurance

Thunt1

New Member
Hello my other half crashed and was unconscious and when came round was not fit to answer any questions because he had a head injury.
But the police breathalysed him when he had just had a drink 10 mins before.
They didn't wait the 20mins they were supposed to. So this would be a false reading because of the pure alcohol in his mouth blowing into the machine.
What can I do about this?
Thanks
 
Where was your partner breathalysed within 10 minutes of having a drink? If it was on the roadside, it's clearly not ideal as it was within 20 minutes BUT the roadside test is only an indication, it's not admissible in court.

If it was the machine at the police station, then he may have a case that the sample is invalid due to the presence of mouth alcohol, but that would mean having the incident, falling unconscious, regaining consciousness, and being taken to the police station machine all within 10 minutes. Unless he drove through the wall of the police station and landed in the evidential breath test machine room, that seems unlikely.

So apologies, but a little more information is needed about what samples were taken, where they were taken and what levels they were.
 
Hi,

1st off I hope he is OK and no one was hurt.

What was his reading at the station?

2 samples should have been taken with the lowest used to charge him.

You will need a solicitor if he plans to plead not guilty, which will run into the 1000s.

If he looses it will be a bigger fine/court costs. And loose credit for early guilty plea. And may get a longer ban.

300-400 on a guilty plea.

You can request a copy of the body cam footage and custody video by writing to the station and requesting it.

Kind regards,




Stu
 
Where was your partner breathalysed within 10 minutes of having a drink? If it was on the roadside, it's clearly not ideal as it was within 20 minutes BUT the roadside test is only an indication, it's not admissible in court.

If it was the machine at the police station, then he may have a case that the sample is invalid due to the presence of mouth alcohol, but that would mean having the incident, falling unconscious, regaining consciousness, and being taken to the police station machine all within 10 minutes. Unless he drove through the wall of the police station and landed in the evidential breath test machine room, that seems unlikely.

So apologies, but a little more information is needed about what samples were taken, where they were taken and what levels they were.
Hi he blew 50 at the side the road but wasn't taken for a second blow test because he was injured so he was taken to hospital and had bloods taken so we won't know the results for 6 to 8 weeks and we have been told that if its anything upto 40 they won't prosecute. But I just don't know what is best to do
 
Hi he blew 50 at the side the road but wasn't taken for a second blow test because he was injured so he was taken to hospital and had bloods taken so we won't know the results for 6 to 8 weeks and we have been told that if its anything upto 40 they won't prosecute. But I just don't know what is best to do

If he has had bloods taken, the roadside reading becomes irrelevant.

In terms of the numbers you are looking for, in blood it is 80mg/ml (equivalent of 35mg/ml in breath).

Even without the potential presence of mouth alcohol, the roadside test is only an indicator. Assuming his actual reading was around 50 and he had drunk relatively recently, his levels would still be increasing so unless the bloods weren't taken for hours, the chances are he will be over.

Can you give an indication of how much he had and how long there was between the last drink and blood being taken? Then someone on here might be able to make a guesstimate at his chances.

Also, were you given/offered a sample of the blood and have you sent it off for private testing?

As you probably know, assuming the bloods come back at a small amount above 80 and he hasn't done this before in the past 10 years, his starting point is a 12 month ban and a fine (calculated against income). Aggravating factors may increase the ban - such as a crash that was bad enough to knock him out - but a 25% reduction is available by successfully completing the drink driving course.
 
Thank you for your help. He has 3 pints. His last drink was 00.45am and the bloods were taken at 3.15am. As far as I'm aware he wasn't offered a sample of the blood.
 
Well that says he's had 2hrs to process his alcohol, which would be about 2 units worth. A unit is worth roughly 7mg in a breath test (according to my DD Awareness Course), so in 2hrs his reading should be about 14mg less than it was at the time of his bump. This could potentially give a result (36mg) which is under the limit of which they'll prosecute at, but if the cops decide to go to the effort of doing the back-count procedure, it's pretty likely that the result of that investigation will be over the limit. Even if the 50mg reading is totally inadmissible, the roadside test is usually fairly accurate.
 
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