If a UK Officer Breathalyses You the Morning After — Say THIS (Hours After Your Last Drink)

📘 Get Know Your Rights here: https://knowrightsuk.gumroad.com/l/know-your-rights Eight o'clock on a Sunday morning. You got a taxi home from the wedding, slept, showered, had two coffees, and you feel completely fine. Then blue lights for a brake light, and the officer asks, "Have you been drinking?" "Not since last night." In that honest sentence you've told him the reason to breathalyse you. The offence is a number on a machine, not how you feel, and you can be over it at breakfast. Here is what we cover: The limit: 35 microgrammes per 100ml of breath (Road Traffic Act 1988 s.11), and why the offence is a reading, not impairment (s.5) The morning-after arithmetic: Highway Code rule 95, the NHS rough guide of about a unit an hour (it varies), NHS unit examples, and why coffee and a shower don't speed it up When they can test you: no random testing. The grounds in s.6, including "still has alcohol in his body", uniform required for most tests, and refusing the roadside test (DR70, 4 points) At the station: two specimens, and the lower one counts (s.8). Why "ask for a blood test" stopped working in April 2015, and why refusing a specimen is as bad as failing What it costs: a minimum 12-month ban, the Sentencing Council band for a just-over reading (36–59µg: a 12–16 month ban, Band C fine), and 11 years on your record The held one: the man who slept it off in his car. Being "in charge" over the limit (s.5(1)(b)) is 10 points, and he has to prove no likelihood of driving. Why the hip-flask defence doesn't help the morning after Say this, played out, and the drink-drive course (up to £250, usually a quarter off the ban) Everything here is tied to real sources: legislation.gov.uk (Road Traffic Act 1988 ss.5, 6, 7, 8 and 11; Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 ss.15, 34A and 44; Deregulation Act 2015), gov.uk (drink-drive limit, penalties, breath tests, endorsement codes, the Highway Code, drink-drive course), NHS alcohol units, an NHS trust's drink-driving leaflet, and the Sentencing Council excess alcohol guideline. Checked October 2026. One honest note. There is no safe number of drinks and no safe time to drive. Always do the test, never refuse a specimen, and never lie. FREE HELP FIRST. If a breath test turns into an arrest, ask for the duty solicitor at the station. It is free, at any hour. 📘 Get the full handbook on stops, the station and what to say: https://knowrightsuk.gumroad.com/l/know-your-rights England and Wales. Scotland is a separate legal system with a lower limit. General information about published law, not advice about your situation. Ever been stopped the morning after? Type the county, nothing else. #policeuk #knowyourrights #drinkdriving #ukdrivers #breathtest