HC Deb 21 March 1990 vol 169 c635W
Mr. Shersby

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether a decision has been reached on police powers to require roadside breath tests.

Mr. Waddington

Yes. The Government have concluded that the police have adequate powers to require roadside breath tests.

The full circumstances in which a breath test can be required were set out by my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General on 5 December 1989 at column 131 and my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland at column 165. It is lawful for a police officer in uniform acting in the execution of his duty to require the driver of any vehicle on a road to stop. A police officer who stops a vehicle on a road with the purpose of investigating whether its driver has alcohol in his body is acting in the execution of his duty. It is accordingly lawful for a police officer in uniform to stop vehicles at random for that purpose, provided there is no malpractice such as oppression or capricious conduct on the part of the officer. It is lawful for a police officer in uniform to require a driver who has been stopped in such circumstances to provide a specimen of breath for a breath test, provided that the officer has reasonable cause to suspect that the driver has alcohol in his body.

We have considered carefully the views expressed during our recent consultations that the police should be able to operate high profile enforcement as a deterrent against drink driving. Their present powers allow them to do so and statistics show that they are using their powers to good effect.

The statistics of breath tests for England and Wales for the 12 months to September 1989, which were published on 7 February, show that overall levels of testing continue to rise, with a continued downward trend in the proportion of positive tests. The police reported 502,000 screening breath tests in this period, a rise of 16 per cent. over the previous year. The provisional figures for the Christmas period reported by the Association of Chief Police Officers show that the proportion of positive tests fell from 10 per cent. in 1988 to 9 per cent. in 1989.

In all circumstances, we have concluded that the existing powers strike the right balance between the need for effective enforcement of the law and the freedom of the individual.