The defendant appealed against his conviction of driving with excess alcohol, on the basis of a blood sample. He said that it was a requirement that the intoximeter should be shown to be working properly before the evidence of the blood sample was admissible.
Held: Simon Brown LJ said: ‘Assuming that the machine is working properly, clearly it is appropriate in a borderline case to give the defendant the opportunity to provide instead a specimen of blood. After all, if he does not provide it he will fall to be convicted on his breath specimen. Assume, however, that the machine is not working properly, then in any event it is open to the police officer to require the blood specimen. I can see no possible reason why the prosecution should have to prove one way or the other whether the machine was actually working properly. The defendant is, if anything, better off if it is assumed to be working: the option then becomes his.’
and ‘The plain fact is that the questions formulated raise but a single issue, that which I earlier identified: does the prosecution have to prove that the machine was actually working accurately when a driver is put to his election under section 8(2)? In my judgment, the plain answer to that is ‘No’ and in the result this appeal falls to be dismissed.’
Judges:
Simon Brown LJ
Citations:
[2000] RTR 235
Citing:
Cited – Prince v The Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 1996
The appellant had convicted of an offence under s5 on the basis of evidence provided by a laboratory test of a blood sample provided under section 8(2). In each case it was contended that the prosecution were required to prove that the intoximeter . .
Cited by:
Cited – Wright v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 25-May-2005
The defendant appealed his conviction for driving with excess alcohol. He complained that the device used to measure his breath at the police station, the EC/IR intoximeter, was not an approved device. The court had refused to accept evidence to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Road Traffic
Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.228467
