39 people lose their licence for drink driving

Warwickshire Police arrested thirty-nine people over the festive period for drink driving offences following a breath test - a 9% failure rate. These individuals will now face a minimum of a one-year driving ban.

Sergeant Mark Steventon said

"It's hard to understand why some people continue to drink and drive and I'm sure these individuals are now regretting their actions. When they lose their licence, they may also lose their job.

"Last year, we made twenty-four arrests and 7.4% of people tested failed their breath test. We believe the number of arrests has gone up because we have increased our anti-drink drive activities this year testing 24% more people."

Eleven of the people who will lose their licence failed a breath test after being involved in a road traffic collision - an 14.3% failure rate of drivers tested. The same number of drivers also failed a breath test in similar circumstances last year but there were less total collisions.

Sergeant Steventon said

"Last year 18.64% of drivers involved in a road traffic collision failed a breath test. This year 14.3% failed and we are quite pleased that the number of drink related accidents has reduced."

Fortunately over the Christmas period, there were no fatalities as a result of drink drivers, most collisions resulted in slight injuries.

A further driver was taken into custody by special constables after failing a breath test carried out during Operation Sober Profile - the special constabulary operation to deter drink driving.

Results of Operation Sober Profile -

• 1 positive breath test from 30 drivers breathalysed - 3.3% 805 vehicles stopped and checked 57 of which were issued with vehicle defective rectification documentation 34 were required to take their documentation to a police station 11 cautions were issued for minor offences * 3 fines were issued, two with three points for defective tyres and one for failing to display a tax disc.