worriedsister
New Member
Hi,
This is my first, and possibly one of my only posts on this forum but I have used it as a superb resource and I thought it might be of use to share my brother's story. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask them, I don't know if I'll be able to answer them but I can only share what I know.
On friday 21st October 2011 my brother had a car accident in Liverpool. He was not badly hurt but cut his head, and called the police to the scene. They decided to breathalyse him, and it had not crossed his mind that he would be over the limit.
He had stopped drinking at midnight the night before and it was now approximately 10am. He had 6 pints of strongish larger (San Miguel) and a Sambuca shot. His breathalyser reading at the roadside came back at 54. He was taken to the station.
At the station he blew 51 and 49 and so luckily a police nurse was called to take a blood sample. She took about 1.5 hours to arrive at the station but when she arrived he was in such a state of shock that she was unable to take blood so he was allowed to give a urine sample. At this stage the sample was split and he was given some to take home and the police kept half. The police officer told him he would be contacted with the results in 2 weeks, that he could get his sample tested privately and that his bail date was 12/12/11
After an awful lot of tears down the phone between several family members there were various things that followed.
On Monday 24th October his sample was sent off by our parents privately. On Wednesday 26th the private sample came back with a urine reading of 109mg/100ml and with the 6mg reduction this was under the legal limit (107mg). The private chromatographer assured us his result would be within 2mg of the police result. Our research also told us that the chromatographer can be called as a court witness.
He had by this stage told the insurance company he had failed a breathalyser and they at this stage would not pay out. He then contacted the insurance with the private chromatographers information and they paid him for his written off car.
He had also had a conversation with his boss at work explaining the situation and had to explain the further details as they came. Thankfully his boss was very understanding and prepared to wait for any firm information.
2 weeks passed and he had heard nothing from the police. He contacted them and was told by the police officer that whatever the results came back as, they would HAVE to contact him. If his sample came back over, then he could come back in before his bail date to be charged, if he was under then his name would be cleared and he would not have to make bail.
Eventually on Thursday 8th December, almost 6 weeks after the initial accident, his case manager phoned him to say that the police results had also come back at 103mg/ml and therefore his name was cleared.
He communicated this to work and so all is OK there now too.
He spoke to the insurance company to ask whether his declaration he had failed a breathalyser would affect his future car insurance situation: they said that while they knew he had failed a breathalyser that would not be shared with other companies as he didn't have a criminal record.
I suppose my advice would be to try and keep calm, especially if you are on the cusp. Don't lie to people, (work/insurance etc) but it can probably do no harm to take your time in disclosing information. What you must remember is that you are innocent until proven guilty and while things may rack up against you, you can choose when to disclose information to people, although if you are directly asked, you should never lie as it would probably work against you long term.
It has been an exceptionally good and scary warning to a lot of friends and family, but luckily for us, things have turned out well.
Hopefully this answers somebodies questions, do feel free to pester me if there are any other details you may want shared.
(His case was managed by Merseyside police - perhaps processes are different in different parts of the country!)
This is my first, and possibly one of my only posts on this forum but I have used it as a superb resource and I thought it might be of use to share my brother's story. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask them, I don't know if I'll be able to answer them but I can only share what I know.
On friday 21st October 2011 my brother had a car accident in Liverpool. He was not badly hurt but cut his head, and called the police to the scene. They decided to breathalyse him, and it had not crossed his mind that he would be over the limit.
He had stopped drinking at midnight the night before and it was now approximately 10am. He had 6 pints of strongish larger (San Miguel) and a Sambuca shot. His breathalyser reading at the roadside came back at 54. He was taken to the station.
At the station he blew 51 and 49 and so luckily a police nurse was called to take a blood sample. She took about 1.5 hours to arrive at the station but when she arrived he was in such a state of shock that she was unable to take blood so he was allowed to give a urine sample. At this stage the sample was split and he was given some to take home and the police kept half. The police officer told him he would be contacted with the results in 2 weeks, that he could get his sample tested privately and that his bail date was 12/12/11
After an awful lot of tears down the phone between several family members there were various things that followed.
On Monday 24th October his sample was sent off by our parents privately. On Wednesday 26th the private sample came back with a urine reading of 109mg/100ml and with the 6mg reduction this was under the legal limit (107mg). The private chromatographer assured us his result would be within 2mg of the police result. Our research also told us that the chromatographer can be called as a court witness.
He had by this stage told the insurance company he had failed a breathalyser and they at this stage would not pay out. He then contacted the insurance with the private chromatographers information and they paid him for his written off car.
He had also had a conversation with his boss at work explaining the situation and had to explain the further details as they came. Thankfully his boss was very understanding and prepared to wait for any firm information.
2 weeks passed and he had heard nothing from the police. He contacted them and was told by the police officer that whatever the results came back as, they would HAVE to contact him. If his sample came back over, then he could come back in before his bail date to be charged, if he was under then his name would be cleared and he would not have to make bail.
Eventually on Thursday 8th December, almost 6 weeks after the initial accident, his case manager phoned him to say that the police results had also come back at 103mg/ml and therefore his name was cleared.
He communicated this to work and so all is OK there now too.
He spoke to the insurance company to ask whether his declaration he had failed a breathalyser would affect his future car insurance situation: they said that while they knew he had failed a breathalyser that would not be shared with other companies as he didn't have a criminal record.
I suppose my advice would be to try and keep calm, especially if you are on the cusp. Don't lie to people, (work/insurance etc) but it can probably do no harm to take your time in disclosing information. What you must remember is that you are innocent until proven guilty and while things may rack up against you, you can choose when to disclose information to people, although if you are directly asked, you should never lie as it would probably work against you long term.
It has been an exceptionally good and scary warning to a lot of friends and family, but luckily for us, things have turned out well.
Hopefully this answers somebodies questions, do feel free to pester me if there are any other details you may want shared.
(His case was managed by Merseyside police - perhaps processes are different in different parts of the country!)
