The Road Safety Act of 1967 introduced the British motorist to the breathalyser and brought about a first time scientific form of evidence providing a prescribed maximum legal amount of alcohol in the blood. 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 mililitres of blood was the limit. The device at the time was the Alcotest R80 which involved the subject blowing through a glass tube containing yellow crystals which turned green past a little line down the tube if the test was positive. Back pressure in the tube was created by inflating a plastic bag which fitted on to the tube.
The breath kit was stored in a green plastic box which housed ten tubes and mouthpieces and one re-usable bag. There was a little blade on the side of the box on which to break off the ends of the sealed tube before inserting it into the bag and putting on the mouthpiece. I'm told that a few "fail to provides" came about after the subject couldn't blow the bag up because the officer had "forgotten" to snap off the ends of the tube. Heaven forbid! Breathalysers were always a bit of a novelty with Nottscops and a pain in the backside for supervisors when their night-shift crews were off the area with a "pos-alco". In those days the breathalyser was only the start of a lengthy process involving the driver being arrested and taken to a police station with facilities for a police surgeon to attend and take blood samples. The law enabled the driver to refuse to give blood at the last minute and elect to provide urine instead, resulting in an expensive waste of time and the opportunity for the alcohol level to go down. This meant that a double crewed panda could be off the area for hours at a time dealing with a pos alco. As the years went on all sorts of legal loopholes emerged, only to be patched up by frequent changes in statute. Later on the R80s were replaced by Draeger Alerts. These were electronic devices about the size of a house brick and were the first devices to show a positive test by the subject causing a red light to come on. A green light indicated under the limit and an orange light meant a caution - just under the limit so go careful in future, sir.

Before any new type of breathalyser device can be used it has to go through a testing process known as Home Office Type Approval whereby the police are first tasked with carrying out their field tests on it and then Home Office scientists do more rigorous scientific test. Nottinghamshire Constabulary carried out initial tests on the Draeger Alert and used a few Nottscops as guinea-pigs to drink as much free booze as they could in the bar at Epperstone Manor and see what effect it had on them. As well as Draeger personnel monitoring the tests there were people from Loughborough University encouraging as much drinking as possible, all on the house. I'm told that not only did the guinea pigs enjoy the experience but at least one had such a bad hangover the next day that he reported sick. Injury on duty?

The First breath test In Notts The first breath test ever to be administered in the country was on 30 Nov 1967. At two minutes past midnight Pc John Smith (latterly Ps 628 - retired 1995) saw a car being driven along Wilford Road, Meadows, Nottm with no lights. Few minutes later he saw it on Briar Street. In the car were two men. Pc 506 Phillips attended scene at John's radio request. The offender said John could not do anything because corroboration was required.But obviosly he didn't know about the new breathalyser law! Insp Beeforth was on duty with John and he eventually got off duty after lunchtime. They had to read the law from scratch.  Offender's name was Salmon.

Have you got any fond memories of breathalysers? EMAIL Nottscops if you do.