News

Dozens banned after drink drive campaign

By Stephen Lloyd
January 17, 2012

BANS totalling 128 years have been handed out to more than 60 drivers as part of a festive drink drive crackdown by Hampshire police.

Between December 1 and 14, officers arrested 107 people during its Operation Holly campaign.

Sixty-six have pleaded guilty and were disqualified from driving for a total 128 years and 10 months.

Twelve drivers remain on bail, 14 cases are still going through the courts and 15 people were released without charge.

Hampshire Constabulary said that eight drivers blew more than 100 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The limit is 35mg.

A police spokesman said a 43-year-old man from Hook was almost five times over the limit when he was arrested on December 10.

The driver, who had crashed into another vehicle in the car park of a hotel in London Road, Yateley, blew 173mg of alcohol per 100ml breath. He admitted drink-driving and driving without insurance and was jailed for 12 weeks and disqualified for three years.

Police said a 46-year-old man from Winchester was also jailed for 12 weeks and banned from driving for three years after admitting drink driving and driving while disqualified in Farnborough on December 1.

The driver, who blew 124mg of alcohol per 100ml breath, was caught by police trying to change a wheel on his car on a garage forecourt in Bridge Road.

Chief Superintendent Chris Brown, head of Hampshire's Roads Policing, said: “Every drink-driver we’ve arrested and helped to convict is one more dangerous driver taken off our roads.

“The legal consequences of drink-driving simply aren’t worth it.

"Many of these people will get the opportunity to go on a course to reduce the length of time for which they’re disqualified.

"However, losing your licence could mean you lose your job. Either way, you’ll certainly find it much more difficult to live your life normally.

“It’s unlikely you’ll get away with it as well.

"As these convictions show, we catch drivers because we’re out on patrol, looking for suspicious vehicles, because we’re breath-testing people at every opportunity, and because concerned members of the public are letting us know about drink-drivers.

“I’d like to thank everyone who contacted us with information. Doing so could well have helped save a life.”

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