Blood and Urine

If the reading is 50ugs or below the Intoxilyzer operator will, if following the procedure correctly, explain that you have the right to have your specimen replaced with blood or urine. The officer should not do anything to persuade or dissuade you in this decision. If you do decide to have the specimen replaced then it will be for the officer to decide whether the replacement be of blood or urine.

If the officer decides to take blood he will then call a doctor or health care professional to take the specimen. Your consent must always be sought and given. This specimen should be split into two and you must be offered your own sample to be examined by your own expert. The other sample should be sealed and then sent to the police expert. Typically you will be released on bail to re-attend at a date when the sample has been examined. The legal limit in blood is 80mgs. Two samples taken at the same time are often not exactly the same. Moreover when the samples are examined, to account for a margin of error a further 6mgs is deducted from the reading. If this remains at over 80mgs the police will proceed with a charge. The Crown Prosecution Service will usually proceed with a charge even if it is only 81mgs.

It should be noted that in certain circumstances such as lack of a suitable Intoxilyzer machine or medical reasons the officer can skip the use of the Intoxilyzer machine and go straight to the option of blood or urine. However a strict procedure must be adhered to.