What the police will do if they stop you for drink or drug driving

So, come Saturday morning I was clear-headed and very sober when Sgt Will Ayres pulled up beside me in his souped-up marked police BMW.

Over the coming weeks the sergeant and his colleagues' focus – even more than usual – is on catching drink and drug drivers. The force is taking part in a national campaign aimed at stopping the practice that claims hundreds of lives each year.

As a reporter, I’ve covered several fatal crashes where drugs or drink have played a part. They include the death of popular Penhill biker Luke Chapman in 2018, who hit a Peugeot 208 being driven by Paul Middleton. 25-year-old Middleton, who was jailed in January, was three times over the cannabis limit.

And I cannot even count the number of times I’ve sat in the press bench at court and listened to cases of drinkers or drug drivers who could so easily have killed themselves or others in a horror crash.

Sgt Will Ayres Picture: DAVE COX

What happens when you're stopped for drink driving?

Sgt Ayres fetches his breathalyser machine. Every traffic officer carries one of the hand-held devices in his patrol car and, increasingly, so do neighbourhood response officers.

There are usually only three reasons why you’d be asked to do a breathalyser test or drugs wipe. First, because someone’s called 999 to report you getting behind the wheel drunk or high. Second, a police officer thinks the manner of your driving suggests you’re impaired in some way. Third, if you’ve been involved in a crash.

“We explain the grounds we have to request a sample. The only question we really ask is when the last time you had an alcoholic drink was,” Sgt Ayres says.

Programming age and sex into the machine Picture: DAVE COX

You’ll then have to wait for 20 minutes. That’s to ensure that any alcohol you might have just sipped isn’t left in your mouth. The roadside breathalyser tests the amount of alcohol on your breath so, if you’ve literally just had a drink, the reading is going to be much higher.

Wait over, the officer will ask you for your age and sex. That’s inputted into the breathalyser before you’re asked to blow for five or six seconds. It takes a couple of seconds for the reading to flash up on the LED display. I blow zero.

The legal drink drive limit in the UK is 35 microgrammes of alcohol in the equivalent of 100ml of breath.

If you blow higher than 35 you'll be arrested for drink driving and taken to a police station. Officers use a fixed machine to take two new breath samples, with the lower of the two used in any prosecution.

You'll have to blow into the machine for five or six seconds Picture: DAVE COX

You’re not going to be cautioned for drink driving or given a roadside fine. You’ll get charged and can expect a letter in the post summonsing you to court. The penalties range from a fine to 26 weeks behind bars depending on the offence you’ve been charged with and the facts of the case. You’ll also likely be banned from the roads.

Drugs wipe

The process for those suspected of drug driving is slightly different. A dip stick, roughly the size of a pregnancy test kit, tests for cannabis and cocaine and the roadside by being wiped across your tongue. If you test positive for either of those drugs you’ll be taken to the police station, where a blood sample is taken and sent off to the lab where they can test for more than a dozen substances.

Drugs wipe Picture: DAVE COX

The penalties for drug driving are similar to drink driving, although the limits are significantly lower.

However, failing to provide a specimen is treated more seriously by the courts, with magistrates routinely handing out longer driving bans to those convicted of the offence. And claiming you’re scared of needles won’t cut it with the JPs – unless you have a cut and dry GP’s letter.

Increase in drug driving

Police officers like catching drink and drug drivers. Sgt Ayres, who has been in the traffic unit on-and-off for five years, says: “Statistically it’s been proven that they cause and contribute to a huge proportion of collisions that involve death or serious injuries. It’s what we call one of the fatal four: speed, using a mobile phone, not wearing a seatbelt and drink or drug driving.”

Those caught over the drink drive limit are usually quite remorseful. “It’s still very socially unacceptable,” the sergeant says.

But police have seen a huge increase in the number of drug drivers they pull over. “I think it’s a change of culture. People may not drink so much but they will spend £10 or £20 on cannabis or cocaine of an evening.” The limits are so low and levels of drugs in the body build up in such a way that even people who smoke a joint in an evening to get them to sleep could be over the limit 20 hours later.

Sgt Ayres urged anyone who suspected someone of drink or drug driving to call 999.