KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
with a phobia would show, then it may be wise showing the footage to a medical expert, for example a psychiatrist, who may be able to examine the demeanor at the police station to deter- mine whether they are showing the usual traits of suffering from a phobia.
Another difficulty is isolating the phobia. So taking a needle pho- bia – it’s easier to argue that you weren’t affected by the phobia until the sight of the needle. Whereas with coronavirus by the point you’re asked for a specimen you’ve been arrested, put in a police car, taken to the station and booked in – yet it was the sight of the breath machine that triggered the phobia.
But a different point worth considering when it comes to drink driving cases is whether alcoholic gels and wipes may have had an effect on the reading.
We have recently been dealing with an enquiry where the level of alcohol knowingly consumed could not have generated the reading during a breathalyser test.
There are three possible explanations; the person enquiring con- sumed more alcohol than they told us, there was a fault with the breathalyser machine or alternatively the machine may have de- tected alcohol from elsewhere.
In this particular enquiry the officer was continuously (and un- derstandably) using a hand sanitiser to protect himself from the virus and wiping the machine regularly. It is well documented that only hand gels/wipes with an alcohol content of 60% or more are used in stations and we are worried that this may have distorted the reading. The hand sanitiser could easily have found its way on to the tube that the client blew into, in order to give the sample or alternatively the machine may have detected fumes from the wipes used to clean it
We received advice from an expert in both breathalyser machines and the taking of samples and they suggested that there is a possibility that samples could be contaminated by alcohol hand sanitisers – making readings unreliable.
However – as with most cases – it has to be dealt with on it’s own facts, and there would have to be evidence that not only were the gels/wipes regularly used but that these could also have affected the reading (and the defendant wouldn’t have been above the limit without the additional fumes).
We are also concerned that people who have given a blood sample instead of breath may have ended up with an unreliable reading. The force’s medical practitioner who takes blood may have used alcohol based hand sanitisers prior to taking the sam- ple and therefore contaminated the needle when attaching it to the syringe.
We know that the police take the integrity of readings very seri- ously. There was a time when police used to use alcohol based disinfectant swabs before taking a blood sample but this was stopped for fear of distorting the blood reading.
If you think that your sample may have been affected then please contact us urgently. Anything that renders the sample unreliable can amount to a defence.
MAY 2020 ISSUE:
I have been stopped for driving without insurance. I have been furloughed from my job and have taken up temporary work as a delivery driver but I got the wrong insurance and the car has just been seized. What can I do?
ADVICE:
Since the restrictions have been put in place we have noticed a spike in offences where new delivery drivers have got the wrong insurance.
Knowing what you are covered to do is the responsibility of the driver and failure to adhere to that could see your car seized, as well as six penalty points and a fine.
Every insurance company is different, but generally speaking there are different levels of insurance. Social, domestic and plea- sure purposes does as it says, you can drive for social and plea- sure purposes only. Commuting is usually separate and covers driving to and from a single place of work. If you have multiple places of work you will need business use. If you are a delivery driver it is unlikely that commuting or business use would cover you, and so you will likely need courier insurance.
Driving without insurance is a strict liability offence, meaning that if you were insured, you are not guilty and if you were not insured then you are guilty. So the starting point for any offence is to thoroughly examine the policy to determine whether or not you are covered for the purpose of your journey and therefore determine whether you are guilty.
If you are not covered there are limited arguments available. One of them would be if you can persuade the court that there are special reasons not to impose points – which for a case of no insurance will be on the basis that it you were under a gen- uine misapprehension that you were insured, and this was based on reasonable grounds. Simply not understanding the in- surance policy because it was new to you due to the virus would likely not amount to a special reason – it would need to go a little further – so a genuine mistake or being misled for ex- ample.
That aside, the only other defence specific to employees is if the defendant can show the car did not belong to them, they were driving in the course of employment and there was no reason to suspect insurance was not in existence.
If you need any advice on motoring matters please email:
e.patterson@
pattersonlaw.co.uk or call 01626 359 800 for free legal advice. For regular updates on road traffic law follow us on:
facebook.com/PattersonLawMotoringSolicitors or
twitter.com/Patterson_law_
103
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112
