We represented a professional man and Company Director with a clean licence who was stopped by police on the roadside for no discernible reason. Upon speaking to our client, the officer thought that he detected alcohol on his breath. His roadside breath test was unsatisfactory (the police believed that he had not tried to blow into the intoximeter sufficiently hard enough), so he was arrested and taken to the police station. At that stage, our client stated that he had long-term sinus and breathing problems and produced some of the prescribed medication that he had been taking.

He then failed to breathe sufficiently into the ESD (the police station breath/alcohol device). He was examined by an individual described to him as a ‘nurse officer’ who decided that he was well enough to breathe specimens. He was not offered the alternatives of blood or urine tests, and was charged with failing to provide breath tests at the roadside and in the police station.

He pleaded not guilty and we asked the Court to direct that police station CCTV footage of the breath procedure be served immediately, so that we could prepare for his trial. The CPS repeatedly failed to do this. The matter was listed for mention by the Court and again the CPS promised the CCTV. It never arrived.

On the day of trial, all these matters were brought to the attention of the Court. It was argued that our client was being deprived of the right to a fair trial (abuse of process argument). It seemed that there were some doubts regarding the qualifications of the ‘nurse officer’ and whether he was qualified to ascertain the medical fitness of our client.

The case was consequently dismissed, to the delight of our client.

This is what dogged determination and thorough preparation (literally leaving no stone unturned) on the part of both Jeffrey Lewis (senior partner) and Martin Lewis of counsel, can achieve.

We have over 40 yearsof successfully defending motoring cases, please contact us if you need assistance with such a matter. Call 0207 387 2032 or complete our online enquiry form here.