Online breathalyser warning for North East drivers

As the party season gets into full swing there is a warning to North East drivers that cheap breathalysers bought online could kill.

As the use of personal breathalysers increases in popularity amongst motorists, alcohol safety experts are urging us to be cautious when purchasing digital breathalysers over the internet.

Recent lab tests carried out by several accredited laboratories including UK police provider, Lion, and alcohol safety experts, AlcoDigital, claim a number of separate devices labelled as ‘police accurate’, ‘highly sensitive’ and ‘professional’ failed to provide reliable readings.

AlcoDigital also claim all the ‘breathalyzers’ tested returned dangerously low readings - in some cases results were reading less than half when actual alcohol concentration was well over the drink-drive limit.

Paul Mackintosh is from Northumbria Police and says it’s a concern.

“The problem with devices that you can buy across the internet, you often don’t know if they are calibrated. In short it means you don’t know how accurate they are. The Police advice would certainly be the case that just don’t drink and drive or take drugs when you drive a motor vehicle.”