Drink and drug drive suspects face bleak start to New Year as roads policing officers target offenders

Suspected drink and drug drivers are already facing the consequences after a busy night of enforcement activity by Nottinghamshire Police’s roads policing unit.

The force is using a mixture of public engagement, education, and enforcement to keep roads safe in the city and county as part of this years ‘A Deadly Mix’ campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the dangers and consequences of drink and drug driving. 

Unfortunately, due to Storm Darragh, we had to postpone one of our planned public roadshow events due to be held in Mansfield.

However, even in the face of the stormy conditions, roads policing officers were in the Mansfield and Ashfield areas on Saturday night (7 December) to keep people safe by targeting drivers taking a risk by driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs.

Among those arrested was a 38-year-old driver who was stopped by police in Rosemary Street, Mansfield, shortly after 6.30pm, due to his car having a defective rear light.

The suspect told officers he had consumed a few bottles of beer earlier in the day along with some food.

The man, who also risked the safety of a child passenger as a result of his actions, provided an evidential breath test specimen of 47 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg.

He was arrested on suspicion of driving with excess alcohol and is now facing further repercussions through the courts.

During the early hours of Sunday (8 December), officers also came across a man in the driver’s seat of a car in Oak Street, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, with the keys in his possession.

Due to being in charge of the vehicle, the 18-year-old was asked to provide a sample for a roadside drugs wipe.

The test gave back a positive reading for cocaine and cannabis.

The teenager was arrested on suspicion of being in charge of a motor vehicle with a proportion of a controlled drug above the specified limit.

Pending results of a blood sample analysis, he is now facing potential court action.

As well as these two arrests, the force’s dedicated roads crime team, supported by road policing colleagues, followed and stopped a car in Candle Meadow, Colwick, last Friday (6 December) which was suspected to be involved in criminality.

Searches of the vehicle led to a 36-year-old man being detained on suspicion of driving while disqualified, driving without insurance, possession of cannabis and going equipped to steal. He was also breathalysed, with the reading coming back as negative.

Chief Inspector James Walker, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “There is simply no excuse for driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. It is a selfish act that needlessly endangers the lives of innocent people.

“The public engagement, education, and enforcement activity we are carrying out as part of our ‘A Deadly Mix’ drink and drug drive campaign is just a snapshot of the policing work we do every day to keep people safe, to protect our communities and to prevent and reduce crime.

“It was great to hear our officers received really positive feedback at our first educational public roadshow event held in Nottingham city centre.

“Sadly, we had to postpone our Mansfield event due to the adverse weather conditions, but we hope to be back with another roadshow in the Mansfield area in the New Year.

“As part of our extended series of roadshows, we are planning to hold further events in Worksop, Retford, and Newark over the coming weeks to help open even more people’s eyes to the serious risks, consequences and impacts of drink and drug driving.

“We will continue to proactively patrol the roads, whether they’re strategic main routes or rural roads, to identify and target drink and drug drivers and take appropriate action to make sure all road users are safe.”

Our next roadshow event is due to be held in Worksop later today (Friday 13 December) in Bridge Place (in the Trader Clock area), running from 5pm to 7pm.

Our ‘A Deadly Mix’ campaign is being run in conjunction with the national Operation Limit drink and drug drive campaign which runs until 1 January.

Anyone with information about suspected drink or drug driving should contact Nottinghamshire Police, by calling 101.

In case of an emergency, or if you believe a crime is in progress, always dial 999.