Thats the woke agenda for you
When did illustrated weekly go bust?
Relax Fun Brigade.
Sounds like from this that if you are stopped for suspected drink driving and the guard doesn’t have a breath test on him you are under no requirement to remain at the scene if he’s keeping you under observation?
Fucking hell, Walking and talking is an achievement after 12 pints.
Drink driving is the most litigated and challenged of all criminal offences.
If you are not under arrest you are free to go.
Which case is this?
We got stopped going to knock airport just before the Christmas in a road block at about 8am.
Hopper had crawled in at 4am, I’d dragged him out of the bed, and he was unconscious sprawled across the back seat. They breathalysed the brother.
“I don’t suppose” he said to the gard, “you’d breathalyse your man on the back seat?”
The hard peered in the window.
“Jaysus lads, it looks like yeve kidnapped him”
Forgot to include the link. I’ve added it now.
Had just headed out to get a VitHit for the drive home tonight.
In the case above, say your man drives off during that 16 mins period could he be accused of refusing a breath test which is an automatic conviction itself?
01-817 4981
My understanding of it is that the Sgt had no power to detain the driver for the nil-by-mouth observation period. The wait for a Drager wasn’t a problem as there’s provision in the legislation for that. Failing a roadside test doesn’t make you guilty of anything, it just indicates the presence of alcohol. You still have to go back to the station for the definitive test which indicates the level in your system
Had ye the seatbelts wrapped around him or something?
No seatbelt is penalty points.
I’m not sure tbh. Didn’t think of it. Presume he had one on before he lay down 
Drink-driving charge dismissed against Kerry farmer (80) who admitted to having three pints
A Kerry farmer who was stopped by gardaí while driving his tractor in Killorglin – and admitted to having three pints – had a charge of driving with excess alcohol dismissed after Judge David Waters ruled there was doubt as to whether or not the blood sample was taken in time.
The law requires such a sample to be taken within three hours of arrest, and on the night in question, there was confusion as to when the sample was taken. A delay in sourcing a doctor to take the sample, along with the clocks going forward on the night, were both issues.
Patrick O’Connell (80) with an address at Gurrane West, Killorglin, was stopped by gardaí on March 26, 2022, and charged with driving with excess alcohol.
In evidence at Cahersiveen District Court, Garda Coleman said he observed a tractor coming out, without lights, of the Fair Field car park in Killorglin on to the right hand side of the road, towards oncoming traffic. The tractor continued down Mill Road and turned left onto Castleconway.
Garda Coleman followed the driver and activated the blue lights and siren, stopping the vehicle at Castleconway. Garda Coleman said he waited for the driver to turn off the tractor and then spoke to him, taking his name and address.
He said he got a strong smell of alcohol and noticed that Mr O’Connell’s eyes were bloodshot and that he was unsteady on the footpath. He formed the opinion that Mr O’Connell was intoxicated. Garda Coleman told the court that Mr O’Connell said he had three pints in O’Grady’s. He arrested him and conveyed him to Killarney Garda Station.
At the station, 24Doc were contacted and they said there would be a 40-minute wait for a doctor. At around 11.28pm, they phoned back to say they didn’t have a doctor, and SouthDoc was contacted. They told gardaí there would be a one-and-a-half-hour wait, and Mr O’Connell was placed in a cell.
A doctor arrived at 12.58am, Garda Coleman told the court. This was just before the clocks went forward an hour due to the time change on the night. A blood sample was taken at 12.57am, the court was told, and Mr O’Connell was released at 2.22am (1.22am if the clock had not gone forward).
Mr O’Connell’s solicitor, John O’Dwyer, said there was confusion given the evidence was that the sample was taken at 12.57am, the time given on the medical cert, and the Doctor arrived at 12.58am.
Garda Coleman said that he can only assume that the doctor looked at his watch and put in old time, and that explains the discrepancy. He said that his time of arrival was 12.58am.
Mr O’Dwyer argued that the time the sample was taken and the cert is essential proof. Judge Waters said that the State must prove that the sample was taken within three hours of driving.
"Was it 12.57am or 2.15am new time? The sample should have been taken by 1.33am and the State must show that.”
The State said the clocks in the station might not be entirely accurate but that there is no doubt.
However, Judge Waters said that the evidence must prove ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that the sample was taken on time and there is doubt in this case, so he dismissed the charge.
Give Paddy O Connell back his tractor.
They’re practically encouraging drink driving.
Yerra Justice