joni

A female accountant where I work was working latish last night and set off driving home at around 7pm. She drove for a short while and was pulled over by a patrol car. Apparently one of her rear lights was not working. No speeding no swerving...nothing else.

The officer then breathalysed her with a warning that if she did not perform the test to his satisfaction that she would be arrested. At this point, she apparently felt physically sick with fear. She is around 50ish, absolutely lovely, teetotal, single lady who has never had any legal troubles in her life. She is still clearly shaken by this.

I have suggested that she writes to whoever to complain about this treatment....would it be worthwhile?

yoza

They do that.

Its their job.

Some are worse that others, looks like she got a bad one.

Random breath tests are common place, but the wording attached was OTT.

I must admit Im all for ramdom breath tests, the more the merrier, but why bother with that sort of comment (if you dont do it properly I will arrest you!). What a ****.

OllyK

If a light was out then an offence has been comitted and she should be stopped. Breath testing is a normal procedure following being pulled. Sounds like she got the normal blurb and I would say her reaction was normal. When you were doing nothing wrong (as far as you are aware) and get pulled it is a nerve racking experience.

If his attitude was genuienly unpleasant or threatening she could report him, but it would be his word against hers and she would likely need to be interviewed, not a pleasant prospect. If she still feels aggrieved I would suggest an informal letter to the Chief Superintendant and the local police station expressing her concerns but making it obvious she does not want to make a formal complaint.

King RA

I'd definately complain, otherwise the officer in question could carry on being an ar$ehole unbeknown to his boss. If you were rude to somebody at work wouldn't you expect it to come back to you from your boss?

Dracoro

Was the officer disrespectful? If so, make a complaint. Else, if the officer was merely pointing out that not giving a sample would mean further action then I'm not sure what the problem is apart from the lady being over sensitive.

joni

I was under the impression that random breath testing without grounds for suspicion was not on?

Scooby-Doo

Whenever I have been breathalised I have always been warned that failure to supply a suitable specimen will result in an arrest. I thought they had to inform you of this fact. Maybe she is overreacting slightly but I agree some plods are more aggressive than others but thankfully whenever I have been stopped they are car freaks and are more interested in the car than me

H7

There are always grounds for suspicion ...

Felix.

Suspicion of alcohol in the system

Following a RTA

Any moving traffic offence

Scooby96

Reason enough if her rear light wasnt working - she should stop being so sensitive unless he was rude otherwise get over it and move on.

lmsbman

The lady committed what is known as a moving traffic offence (duff backlight). The officer then had cause to request a breath specimen. If that person fails or refuses to provide a sample they commit an offence. However, the officer must have reasonable cause to suspect that she has alcohol in her system if he wants to arrest her. Otherwise he should report or summons. The wording I use is "I WANT YOU TO PROVIDE ME A SPECIMEN OF BREATH. I MUST POINT OUT THAT REFUSAL OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE A SAMPLE IS OFFENCE FOR WHICH YOU CAN BE ARRESTED, SO LETS MAKE SURE WE DO IT PROPERLY" I then give a full explanation of the breathalyser.
There is no set way of doing it, but the officer concerned didn't do anything wrong, unless he was rude.

joni

Tell me because I am obviously thick....What the hell has a back light out got to do with drinking and driving?

andypugh2000

unfortunately we are all just cattle in a very large field to the boys in blue, they just do it out of procedure im afraid, i know people like whom you explained who are really nice and get easily upset by this, just sad really but they wont catch the drunks without upsetting a few of us unfortunately.

BuRR

lol... this is all hearsay.....

Hang the officer, his wife AND his kids for something that you all just heard second hand

I'm not saying it didn't happen, but we don't really know what was said... all we are getting is a second hand account of a routine breath test.

I'm off to watch The Bill or something.... no one ever complains on there

rr_ww

I really think she over reacted. Obviously, she knew she didnt drink, so why get all panicky?

Plod will always be bullish with you, so just let them get on with it.

Write a letter of complaint. Whats the point!

lmsbman

Nothing. But this country does not yet have random breath testing. As Felix pointed out, there needs to be either a moving traffic offence, suspicion of alcohol or RTC before a request can be made.
I have caught loads of drink drivers who were driving OK, but had a defective light. I have also caught a few little old ladies who look like butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. I caught one middle aged woman who was driving OK, didn't smell of alcohol but had no seatbelt on. She was an alcoholic and had been drinking Vodka. She was 4 times over the limit!!

Joni, what is your problem? If your colleague had not been drinking, then she had nothing to fear. What would you rather we did. Not stop people who appear to be ok for fear of upsetting them, who later have a fatal accident, or stop everyone that does something to give us reason in the hope that we can prevent a few deaths, even though this might inconvenience someone for a few minutes.
The moral of the story is, if you don't want get stopped, make sure your car is in full working order.

joni

Interesting replies. I can actually see both sides of the coin on this. What I can't see is how a light out can lead to a threat of arrest for potential drinking and driving. Please tell me that everyone checks their lights morning noon and night before setting off on a journey. Surely the thing to do is to pull them and say Your light is out...sort it now.
I just can't get my head round the fact that this then automatically becomes grounds for suspicion of this that and the other. That ain't right in my mind...last comment as this thread has done it's life.

Jerome

When I still had the Scoob, being pulled over wasn't that much of a hassle - especially if it meant a few nicked Scoob were being recovered.

I did have some explaining to do once when pulled over in Farnborough though. A few days before I'd had a bottle of Octane Booster split in the boot. I had 2 powerful air fresheners in the car and it still smelt like a brewery. The coppers eventually accepted my explanation and let me on my way - without even doing the breathalyser.

I honestly think that if this woman was that upset by being pulled over - even if the guy was rude - then she should wrap herself in cotton wool and stay indoors.

grovesy

The copper should have pulled along side of her and said "you have tail light out can you get fixed ASAP" then he could have carried on catching real criminals.

Redkop

If she was flustered and panicky when the Officer stopped her - she may have given the impression that she had been drinking, so he had every right to breathalyse her.

No big deal if she hadn't been drinking.

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

joni

What the officers on here are saying is that if they intend to breathalyse someone, they are duty bound to warn the person about to be breathalysed that if they refuse to do it or don't do it properly, then they might get arrested.

Same sort of argument on a different plane that I use with my daughter - "If you don't go to bed, then you won't be able to watch Cbeebies in the morning".

In the policeman's case, he's doing his job properly because if he didn't and the person was a drunk-driver and got off because he hadn't followed proceedure, then we'd all be up in arms when 2 nights later that drunk-driver wipes out a familly

I would much rather we had random breath testing or check-points in this country. Drink-driving is a menace and anything the police can do to eradicate it, gets my vote and if that involves stopping people for defective lights, then tough.

Even at her age, tell her to chalk it up to experience, check her lights more often and get on with her life.