Category of drink drive evidence?

[Shelley181146]

A friend has been involved in road traffic collision where they were hit by a drunk driver who left the scene of the accident.

The police arrested the third party from his home address within the hour and has since been released on bail.

My friend has tried to obtain the registration number of the third party vehicle but the police are being guarded as to what information they will share. The police who attended the scene are now on rest days.

 

My friends relative knows the third party driver and the third party has made allegations which the police are not divulging at this moment.

 

If the third party got home before being apprehended, can the police still prosecute for drink driving or will the third party be able to say in their defence that they only had a drink when they got home? Does anyone know how the law stands on this point?

 

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[DragonFly1967]

With regards to obtaining the registration of the drink drivers vehicle, it might be best to let your (friends) insurance company handle that. They'll be much more likely to be able to get the relevant information from the police. Obviously your friend will be able to tell them which police force, and which officers are dealing and perhaps some other information, like his name and address if your friends relative knows them.

 

I'm not 100% sure on how it works, but while there used to be a defence of "I only had a drink when I got home" and the contrary was difficult (if not impossible) to prove, that's not the case anymore. If someone claims that these days, blood is taken and a calculation is made based on the rate of absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream to give an accurate estimate of the amount of alcohol in the bloodstream at the time of the collision which is known. So their 'defence' is pretty much doomed to failure (much like their breathalyzer result).