[Closed] So I got stopped by the Rozzers this morning

Where was this? I'm totally shit faced and have to drive from Sheffield this afternoon 🙂

Random stop and search breath tests
😬

Being breathalyzed? How fashionably retro 🙂

I'm all for it.  Did they say how many they've pulled ?

Being stopped by the rozzers is better than getting picked up by the fuzz.

I’m all for it. Did they say how many they’ve pulled ?

100%. I wouldn't object to a total road block with everyone having to be tested.

I didn't ask how many they had stopped however there was a steady stream of customers...

A very timely reminder.

I remember the night I was stopped and breathalysed 3 times. I worked in a large pub restaurant and it was new year's eve. Finished work and stank of beer as a cask of Timothy Taylors Landlord had decided to deposit its hoppy delights all over me! First stop was as soon as I pulled out of the pub car park. Not unexpected and passed with flying colours. 2nd stop was on the main road around Gateshead as I headed for Newcastle. Miserable tw4t of a copper. Started reading me the riot act - driving smelling of beer on new years eve etc etc. Passed with zero reading again. 3rd stop was on Walker Road heading to pick Mrs Fazzini up from her friends house. By this point I was a) busting for a wee; b) understanding the need to check drivers but getting a bit fed up; c) did I mention needing a wee? Anyway copper #3 was hilarious,we had a jolly giggle at getting breathalysed 3 times in 20 minutes. And he even escorted me to the address I was heading to, as there'd been several incidents in that area that evening!

I thought they were supposed to have reasonable grounds rather than random stops

I thought they were supposed to have reasonable grounds rather than random stops

Quite happy for random vehicle stops, whether it's for breath tests, vehicle defects, insurance, MOT, vehicle defects, whatever.

Having marshalled a closed road event this morning, I'm not feeling very pro-driver!

Reasonable grounds would be A: It’s Christmas. B: You’re driving a car.

Seems fair enough to me.

They do random stops all the time - good thing too. Strange how any sort of stop makes us instantly nervous 😄

Don't hgv's get random checks too?

I think people don't realise that if they have 8 pints up until midnight, they'd still be over the limit until around 4pm the next day.

If you are only just over the limit and claim to have eaten several packs of salt and vinegar crisps you can claim you escaped the breathalyser on random internet posts*.

*From a few years back where a local **** was telling everyone who didn't punch him that he drove better after a few beers and kept a pack of crisps on the passenger seat to get away with drink driving. Posted the same on social media bragging about it including a picture of him and his car outside the pub. Busted as he left the carpark as 3 or 4 people in the pub had all called to police to report him.

Reasonable grounds would be A: It’s Christmas. B: You’re driving a car.

Seems fair enough to me.

Those wouldn’t be adequate grounds for the court.

They can random stop for any reason. Requiring a breath test needs a lawful basis, but many forces ask for voluntary tests at this time of year. If they do it wrong they create potential loophole mess. Would be better if there was a proper process for random testing.

They do total roadblocks in Australia, usually on the edges of towns to catch people heading home after drinking. All for it if it gets idiots off the road, though I don't think we'd get away with it in the UK.

When I lived in Oz/Mid-North NSW the cops radio ads made a specific point of knowing and reciting all the back roads routes from the popular drinking spots.

Victoria only place I’ve ever been breathalysed and that was totally random stop.

Got breathalysed in a small French village shortly after leaving a restaurant that was on the outskirts.They were stopping everyone. Very polite and pleasant to me (and I was clean)  but the car driver who was stopped just ahead of me was out of the car and they were giving him a really hard time.

@poly. Yes it was very much phrased as a choice.

I assume of someone showed overt signs of being over the limit (smell of booze in their breath, slurring whilst having the friendly chat about what your plans are for the day etc) then they could demand one?

Would refusing to voluntarily give a sample be reasonable grounds for them to suspect you were over the limit?

I had no reason to be difficult and try and be an armchair lawyer though so just puffed away anyway 🙂

Police in the area I live in Brussels will do the stop everyone and breathalyse them and that includes cycles.  They post the results up on their fb page so everyone knows it has happened and how many failed

Limits on a bike are the same as for a car.

...The reason I spent a few bob on a good breathylser.... Worth every penny the morning after before I go near a vehicle.

They do total roadblocks in Australia

That's how they caught David Grohl...

Danny - quick answer because page crashes when I try to write a proper one. Yes lots of genuine reasons to suspect (but refusing a voluntary test isn’t one of them!).

I assume of someone showed overt signs of being over the limit (smell of booze in their breath, slurring whilst having the friendly chat about what your plans are for the day etc) then they could demand one?

That becomes reasonable grounds

Would refusing to voluntarily give a sample be reasonable grounds for them to suspect you were over the limit?

I'd have thought so, and refusing then is a separate offence.

I'm sure Mr Loophole could find a way to get it dropped though.

@poly - interesting. I had no need to refuse so didn’t but I would imagine our friendly chat would have been prolonged had I refused and they started looking for reasonable grounds :). And yes, it is a bit daft. I’d have no issues with the law being changed to require them rather than request them.

I got the feeling they no more wanted to be there than I did so wasn’t going to wind them up at all. That said I was slightly conscious they had twigged my very broken near-side mirror (because they pointed it out to me but were apparently ok leaving it at that) so decided to keep things amiable 🙂

I think people don’t realise that if they have 8 pints up until midnight, they’d still be over the limit until around 4pm the next day.

Isn’t it 1 hour per unit + 2 hours after you have stopped drinking as a rough guide.

Isn’t it 1 hour per unit + 2 hours after you have stopped drinking as a rough guide.

So, at roughly 2.5 units per pint of 4.5 ABV, that’s 20+2 hours. If you stop drinking at midnight that roughly 10 pm the following day. At 2 units at 3.8 ABV that’s 18 hrs, so 6pm?
Edit: I had one of my 18yr old students get banned after testing positive the afternoon following a birthday party bender.

Isn’t it 1 hour per unit + 2 hours after you have stopped drinking as a rough guide

Never saw the additional 2 hours just 1 unit per hour. But other variables such as body size mean there is really isn't a standard.
I'll catch the train New Year's Eve.

I have never tried it with a breathalyser but isn’t it better to be safe than sorry? Perhaps one of the medical people could clarify. Also not just the alcohol, you will be tired after drinking late.

Edit: I wouldn’t drink 3 strong ales eg McEwans Champion and drive before lunch the next day.

I think people don’t realise that if they have 8 pints up until midnight, they’d still be over the limit until around 4pm the next day.

Nonsense. I drink a lot and breathalyse myself in a morning if I'm driving.

Even after a heavy session, it'll be zero by mid morning

As Caher said body size is a factor.

Edit - removed ‘major’

Another one here who has no issue whatsoever with the Police being allowed to pull you over for random checks. Have been breathalysed a few times over the years, mostly around christmas as I used to work early shifts so was a prime target for 'the morning after' issues. Every time it's been fine and have had friendly officers.

Don’t hgv’s get random checks too?

By the DVSA (formerly VOSA), yes. The police tend to leave them alone. Most drivers can go their whole careers without ever being stopped whereas I've been stopped twice now, the first one was on my 3rd day of ever driving one! The first one was a random where they pulled over whatever came round the corner but the second one was due to the company I was driving for (agency, first day there). They explained the company had been caught with multiple offences by them and their drivers and was on their 'watch' list, didn't go back there to work after that week as you could see the dodgy practices every day.

#Rule1 I’m not trying to be a dick about this, but………

TBH I’d rather the law allow the Police to randomly stop and breathalyse anyone at any time, regardless of reasonable grounds.

I want fewer drunk drivers on the road rather than drunks looking for a loophole. If random stops = fewer drink driving incidents, then the Police should be allowed a free reign.

TBH I’d rather the law allow the Police to randomly stop and breathalyse anyone at any time, regardless of reasonable grounds.

I want fewer drunk drivers on the road rather than drunks looking for a loophole. If random stops = fewer drink driving incidents, then the Police should be allowed a free reign.

I guess the problem is when police are given such powers they have never really used them in a balanced way. Just look at the numbers (specifically demographic) of covid fines and stop and searches.

As a teen in the 60’s I got stopped in Wakefield at a roadblock / random test. (Might have been “walk the white line or say “Aberystwyth” - did they even have breath tests in ‘63)
The copper was a school friend.
He put his head in the car and said “never ever drive again after having a drink” and waved me through.
What a lesson.
I never have.
Ever.
I get that this lucky escape would not have affected all drivers in the same way. (Katie Price springs to mind).
Be safe you lot. A car is a bloody dangerous weapon.

Back to the OP, why “Luckily”, if you haven’t had a drop of booze in over 3 years??

So other than being drunk....what grounds would anyone. Have for refusing a breath test while driving a car other than being a capital unt.

Should be a condition of getting your driving license that you agree to it.

@desperatebicycle - it was tongue in cheek although I was still really nervous when blowing even though I knew it couldn’t be anything other than zero.

@trail_rat - I can think of a few bunts who would happily be a total arse about these things and refuse one just because they legally could.

can think of a few bunts who would happily be a total arse about these things and refuse one just because they legally could.

See my original caveat.

We grassed someone up on Christmas Eve who was all over the place, they were hitting curbs and on the other side of the road in Kingston uT. Emailed their registration to Crime-Stoppers. Idiot.

The police have the power to randomly stop vehicles, however they cannot perform random preliminary breath tests. They can only make a requirement that a person comply with a preliminary breath test if they reasonably suspect that:-

a person is driving, attempting to drive or is in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place while under the influence of alcohol
a person has been driving, attempting to drive or has been in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place while under the influence of alcohol
a person is or has been driving, attempting to drive or has been in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place and has committed a moving road traffic offence

bfw
Full Member

We grassed someone up on Christmas Eve who was all over the place, they were hitting curbs and on the other side of the road in Kingston uT. Emailed their registration to Crime-Stoppers. Idiot

That’s a 999 job isn’t it? Someone like that needs taken off the road right away, not after an email

More Police powers are directly correlated to more Police abuse of powers.

The above is a basic fact...

We have a robust set of Laws and Powers for Police Authorities they simply need to do their jobsand enforce appropriately.

I sight the new Police Act.

Wrong thread 🤦‍♂️