Drink Drive Who Was Out of Breath is Banned

A SUSPECTED drink-driver was banned from driving for a year, after magistrates heard how he failed to provide enough breath to be tested on three occasions at a police station. Fifty-nine-year-old Eduardo Coelho was stopped by officers because he was driv

A SUSPECTED drink-driver was banned from driving for a year, after magistrates heard how he failed to provide enough breath to be tested on three occasions at a police station.

Fifty-nine-year-old Eduardo Coelho was stopped by officers because he was driving erratically around Ely, and he failed a roadside breathalyser test.

He was then taken to a police station in Cambridge, where he was required to give another test.

"I didn't refuse to blow, but I could not blow with enough force," Coelho explained to city magistrates on Thursday.

Coelho, of John Beckett Court, Ely, was convicted of failing to provide a specimen of breath at a trial last month, which he did not attend.

This week he was before magistrates to be sentenced. He handed in a letter regarding his health, and explained that he attends Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge for weekly treatment.

Giving Coelho a 12-month conditional discharge and ordering him to pay £50 costs, presiding magistrate Susan Thompson said: "We have heard you were not at your trial because you had a medical appointment.

"You did blow, but you did not have sufficient breath to provide a specimen.