Police Harassment - Failure to Supply

Convicted Driver Insurance

rosythgirl

New Member
My partner was recently pulled over by police on his way to work at 2.30am. We have both endured harassment by police for last 5 months and he is currently on bail. He stopped and the pc came over to the vehicle, asked him to turn off the engine and asked for his details. Assuming he had went back to the squad car to confirm this, my partner panicked and drove the 30 second drive up the hill home. Jumped out the van and ran. All this purely because they have struck the living fear into us for month's and he wasn't aware of him committing an offence and breaching bail. Anyhow, he was too scared to turn up for work or contact home for 10 days as he thought he'd be arrested. Police had hassled both myself and his brother near every night looking for him. When I spoke to the pc on the Saturday, he said he didn't want to arrest him, only charge him for an offence (not state what the offence was). If I could try and make contact with him and get him to contact the station within a week, he would not charge him with failure to stop, only failure to supply breath specimen. My partner contacted me 4 days after the police had spoke to me (within the week that the pc had specified) and off his own back had called them. He has been told he is being charged for both offences. So despite the pc lying to me he has also charging him for failing to provide specimen. He was never asked for one in the 1st place. Where does he stand with regards to both charges? Thanks
 
Based upon the information you have given me it does not seem that your partner was involved in an accident. If this is the case then he can only be prosecuted for failing to stop when required to do so by a police officer, this offence only carries a band B fine, approximately 1 weeks relevant income. There are also 2 types of failure to provide a specimen of breath, failing to provide at the roadside carries a fine and 4 penalty points.
 
Based upon the information you have given me it does not seem that your partner was involved in an accident. If this is the case then he can only be prosecuted for failing to stop when required to do so by a police officer, this offence only carries a band B fine, approximately 1 weeks relevant income. There are also 2 types of failure to provide a specimen of breath, failing to provide at the roadside carries a fine and 4 penalty points.


You are correct, there was no accident. Was just a random check apparently. He was never asked/advised by the officer that he was to supply a breath specimen at the roadside or by any other means. He has now been charged for both offences.

He will not appeal the fail to stop as he drove away when the officer went back to his vehicle, but he was on route to his work at the time of the initial stop, he drives for a living (for Menzies which is delivering newspapers to shops during the night) and has not long got his license back after a ban. He cannot afford to lose his license again, which he lost last time due to actually refusing to supply a breath test at the roadside. Does he have a good case to have the Failure to Supply charge dropped?

Thanks
 
As failing to supply a specimen of breath at the roadside only carries 4 penalty points and a fine your partner should not be facing a disqualification unless he currently has 8 or more points on his licence. He can of course argue that no request was made of him to provide a specimen of breath but it is then likely to come down to your partner and the officer both arguing the opposite point. That is unless there is any CCTV footage from the officers vehicle, you may wish to write to the police to request that any CCTV footage is preserved so that it is not overwritten at any point.
 
As failing to supply a specimen of breath at the roadside only carries 4 penalty points and a fine your partner should not be facing a disqualification unless he currently has 8 or more points on his licence. He can of course argue that no request was made of him to provide a specimen of breath but it is then likely to come down to your partner and the officer both arguing the opposite point. That is unless there is any CCTV footage from the officers vehicle, you may wish to write to the police to request that any CCTV footage is preserved so that it is not overwritten at any point.

Thanks for replying but he had a clean license in 2011 when he had previously refused a specimen of breath (he does not like cooperating unless he feels they have had just cause to stop him due to previous experiences). He was given a fine of £220 and an instant ban of 18 months???
 
He will have been given an 18 month ban for this because he failed to provide a specimen of breath for analysis when required to do so at a police station. He should have been taken through the breathalyser procedure with an officer and told twice that failure to provide a specimen will render him liable to prosecution. In these cases failure to provide a specimen has the same sentencing guidelines as drink driving.

In this recent incident however, he has not been taken back to the police station and given the statutory warnings about this. Therefore these are 2 completely separate offences, this most recent offence is called, 'failing to comply with a preliminary (raodside) breath test', as his refusal is solely at the roadside he will just be facing penalty points.
 
He will have been given an 18 month ban for this because he failed to provide a specimen of breath for analysis when required to do so at a police station. He should have been taken through the breathalyser procedure with an officer and told twice that failure to provide a specimen will render him liable to prosecution. In these cases failure to provide a specimen has the same sentencing guidelines as drink driving.

In this recent incident however, he has not been taken back to the police station and given the statutory warnings about this. Therefore these are 2 completely separate offences, this most recent offence is called, 'failing to comply with a preliminary (raodside) breath test', as his refusal is solely at the roadside he will just be facing penalty points.

Thanks so much for all the info your supplying. He was never asked for a specimen of breath at anytime whilst the police had stopped him. The officer asked him to turn off the engine, he complied. He confirmed his name and address and the officer returned to his car. My partner then drove away, and fearful of losing his license so soon after the last ban (he actually refused a specimen at both roadside and police station for last offence), he ran.

Once he had found out the police were looking for him, he rang and spoke to the officer who met with him and charged him with "failing to stop" and "failing to provide". Failing to stop offence he reluctantly accepts this as he ran after parking the van up but with regards to "failing to supply", he was not requested to do so at any point. Can he still be charged with the offence of failing to provide if he was never asked and officer never even had a breathalyser in his possession? Please bear in mind that this offence is in Scotland also. Many Thanks
 
If the offence has occurred in Scotland you would need to speak to a specialist in that area, Gildeas Solicitors have a specialist motoring team, their number is 0845 051 0810.
 
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