ROAD TRAFFIC

The suggestion that an intoximeter reading was artificially inflated by eructation (belching) during the procedure, may amount to a special reason within the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, s 34(1) for not disqualifying as it goes directly to the commission of the offence and, if accepted, could provide an explanation about why the level of alcohol in the defendant’s breath exceeded the prescribed level, although the alcohol that he had consumed would not have had that effect.