What happened? Police related

[danceallovertheworld]

some memories from my childhood have sort of flared up in my mind recently (brought on by stress elsewhere I think)

just wondered if someone on here could help depuzzle this as I’ve never really understood what happened that night and I’ll never be able to get an honest answer out of my mum about it

basically we were at a big party until very late (1 am ish),my mum has been drinking but I was 9 so I don’t know how much or if she was over the limit or anything like that. Although I had seen her very drunk many times before and she didn’t seem quite as drunk this time, so maybe just tipsy. This was in the 2000s before drink driving laws became much stricter btw. Basically we were driving home and got pulled over by the police (I don’t remember if it was a random stop or something else made them) but they breathalysed her and for some reason said we had to go with them in their car to the station (not in the local town, the bigger station for the area which was a half hour drive away) does this happen when someone fails a breathalyser? Or is it that the results were inaccurate or something? I don’t remember if my mum physically got arrested or not, and I was extremely upset which didn’t exactly help. We spent a few hours in the station, I had to be separate from my mum and stayed in a room with a police officer drinking lemonade and chatting about school (I was still really upset and frightened) then randomly we were allowed to go home and they dropped us off home. My mum told me never to tell anyone about it (especially not the rest of my family) and it just sort of became one of many secrets. But I always wondered, what even happened that night?! Presumably she got breathalysed and I’m assuming it didn’t work and that’s why we had to go down? She was so cagey about it and I can’t ever get a straight answer out of her so I’ll never really know, but just wondered if someone on here could make sense of it just for some closure I suppose? X

Sorry should have clarified - I understand it’s absolutely none of my business what happened RE if my mum got into trouble or anything like that, I’m not trying to be nosey it’s just that it’s an unpleasant memory in my mind because I was so upset and frightened and I suppose I’ve always just wondered what even happened that night x

Not a police officer, nor have I ever been done for drink driving, but I suspect the test done at the car was inconclusive/borderline, and the second test at the station showed she was under the limit.

Positive test on a breathalyser so needs confirming via a blood test at the station. perfectly normal for tests.

You may find the NACOA charity useful, it is for children of alcoholics, even adult children of alcoholics

I think she probably blew just over the limit on the hand held breathalyser, so she had to go to the Police station to use the machine there which gives the results that would be used in court and by the time she did the test at the station she blew under the limit and so was let go probably after a warning about drinking and driving.

Well it sounds like she failed a roadside breathalyser test and had to go to a station with the right equipment to do the more thorough "down the station" tests.

The laws were not less strict around drink driving in the 2000s btw!

They were in Scotland!

Yes they were - the limit was higher then than it is now

In Scotland I mean.

Still, driving 'tipsy' wouldn't have been OK, the limit was the same as in England.

Whenever someone blows over a certain amount, it has to be checked via a blood test at the station I believe. Not a police officer, just have seen it on TV real life programmes like police, camera, action. I have used breathalysers at work (medical trials) and they're accurate to a point, but not completely, which is why blood alcohol is needed to get an accurate level.

As you were frightened and still thinking about this years later etc. I think someone else posted a link to a charity. I think it would be worth getting in contact. It's not that usual for a parent to drink enough to blow near or over the limit and then drive their child. It seems extremely poor judgement. Then your mum making you feel guilty and keep her secret and you feeling unable to ask her? This feels like a pretty toxic parent who possibly still has some hold over you, maybe without you realising?. I may be wrong to judge, but if in doubt, you might wish to talk it through with a counsellor as I suspect there's other things. Sending hugs.

Presumably she got breathalysed and I’m assuming it didn’t work and that’s why we had to go down

No it will have worked. Shell have failed the roadside breath test, the one that shows colours. If you fail that you get arrested on suspicion of drink driving & taken to the police station where they use an accurate calibrated machine which works on figures. It shows the amount of alcohol in your blood stream and shows how much over the limit someone is.

They may have charged her & then run her home because you were there. Adults don't tend to get a lift home. If she was sober I'd have expected them to take her back to her car

Just to correct a couple of posters. If you fail the roadside breath test you'll go to the station and test on the evidential analyser. If you fail to use the evidential machine you are asked to give a blood sample if you fail it is taken that you are over the limit and charged accordingly. Source too many cop shows.

I was a police officer in England in the 90s. As PPs said, she will have failed the roadside breath test, which is not sufficiently accurate to be used in court. So she will have been arrested and taken back to a station that had an evidential breath test machine. You were transported with her as, obviously you couldn’t be left alone with the car. At the police station she will have retaken the breath test on the more accurate machine (the one we had was the size of a desk, so you can see why they can’t be carted around by officers on patrol), if she refused that or failed it, she would have been offered a blood test. If she passed the evidential breath test they would have taken you back to the car if she’d wanted, so it seems most likely she failed it but that’s not necessarily the case.

Since she was driving with you in the car, I don’t think you’re just being nosey wanting to know what happened. This was your life too.

They may have taken you to the station until she sobered up enough to get you home in a safer fashion. The police may have also been asking you questions to determine whether you were being abused or neglected. (It that is the case, it is quite likely that you kids would have protected your mum.)

She failed the roadside test

They took her to police station for an enhanced test that can be used in court.

She was probably drunk and had to go to court at a later date and because you were there, they took you home as she couldn't drive

I was in the car with someone who failed a roadside breath test in the 1990s. The police got into the car and drove us to the police station for the more accurate test and I waited outside in the car. The person was breathalysed again, was under the limit and was let go and we went on our way. It took less than 30 minutes.

Sounds like your mother was over the limit on both tests so it took much longer to process.

More to the point in addition to being over the limit and driving herself, she also had you in the car. They may have been talking to social services to see if you were known to them.

She was drunk in charge of a child, and decided to drive with the child.

Your mum could have gone to court while you were at school re the alcohol thing. Did you lose the car for a while?

Did she drive afterwards or have a period where she didn’t? If she’d failed the test in the station she would very likely have been banned for a year.

The way they do it now certainly is that a roadside breathalyser test has to be verified by another breath test on the formal machine in the station. It's possible that she tested positive at the roadside, but by the time they got back to the station she had dropped back under.

If she continued driving after that evening, then there's a high chance that nothing came of it.

She obviously felt bad enough about it to have told you to keep it secret, which is not fair on you as a child.

I discovered my DF was smoking again as a teenager and he was obviously doing it in secret as he knew we'd be disappointed in him. It ate me up for a few weeks before he accidentally burned something and had to confess!

A roadside breath test failure is grounds for arrest. Only the proper 'big' machine in the police station can be used as evidence to support a prosecution. Being driven home suggests that she failed both and received a d/d conviction.

Driving after that evening wouldn’t be an indication she didn’t fail. You can continue to drive until after you’ve been convicted in court which takes time.

If she was convicted, by the time the conviction came through, OP might not have realised any lack of driving was related. Also, quite a few people continue to drive despite being banned.

Agree with this.

Yes, sorry - I meant generally "after", not just on the day of the incident.

I didn't explain myself very well!