Suspect drink-driver is disqualified after failing to provide a second urine sample

A suspected drink-driver has been banned from the road after he was unable to provide a second necessary urine sample.
Chesterfield magistrates' court.Chesterfield magistrates' court.
Chesterfield magistrates' court.

Chesterfield magistrates’ court heard on January 3 how Tom Chambers, 22, of Megdale, Matlock, had been involved in a collision and taken to a police station to complete a drink-drive test.

Rod Chapman, prosecuting, said: “Chambers came to the attention of police in the early hours of December 8 when officers came across his vehicle after it was involved in a road traffic collision on Matlock Road, Chesterfield.”

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Mr Chapman added the road conditions had been slippery and there had been a heavy snowfall and Chambers’s vehicle was involved in a collision after other vehicles had been abandoned.

Chambers failed a provisional roadside breath test and was taken to a police station, according to Mr Chapman, but the defendant could not complete a breath test for medical reasons and had no visible vein for a blood test. Mr Chapman said Chambers subsequently had to provide two urine samples but he failed to provide the necessary second sample within an hour.

Chambers, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a sample.

Lisa Tinsley, defending, said Chambers had been out with friends and had intended to leave his car but decided to drive home. She added that Chambers had to swerve around abandoned cars and he collided into the back of one. Ms Tinsley claimed the failure to provide a sample had not been deliberate.

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She said: “While he tried and did produce the first sample and was asked to produce a second within an hour he quite simply just could not do it.”

Magistrates fined Chambers £130 and he must pay a £30 victim surcharge and £85 costs. He was also disqualified from driving for 12 months.

The court heard Chambers’s plumbing apprenticeship is likely to be terminated and he may have to find a new apprenticeship after his driving ban is completed.