We were contacted last week by a woman who had been charged with drink driving, her trial was 2 days later.
Our client was surprised that her reading was so high and called us to see if there was anything we could do to help.
She told us that the machine at the police station was not working so the police called the doctor to take blood.
After a few questions it became clear that the doctor had not done the procedure correctly.
Our client told us that she specifically remembered the doctor taking blood from one arm and then because he could not get much blood he tried the other arm.
This was completely wrong and gave our client a cast iron defence.
At court the doctor gave evidence. He had been a police doctor for 35 years. He could not remember whether he took 1 or 2 lots of blood but it didn’t matter anyway because he could take more than 1 specimen and mix them together.
Wrong.
The court agreed (they had no choice the law is clear). They threw the case out and ordered that our clients costs be repaid.
The blood must be from 1 attempt, even if there is only a tiny amount from the first attempt it is invalid and makes the sample inadmissible.
