Sleeper-cab driver beats drink charge
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• A Scottish court has dismissed charges against a driver breathalysed by police while parked in an overnight lorry park (CM 28 March-3 April). The court accepted that his truck was not in a public place.
But drivers union URTU, which paid driver Peter Haigh's £6,000 defence costs, says it is still unclear whether the police have a right to wake lorry drivers at night and breathalyse them. Because the procurator fiscal dismissed the case URTU was unable to get a ruling on this point. After the hearing in Falkirk URTU general-secretary Frank Griffin described driver Haigh, who works for Barnsley-based Fearns Tankers, as "chuffed with the result".
Griffin is pressing for a change in the law by writing to the Association of Chief Police Officers; Transport Minister Malcolm Rifkind; Labour's shadow minister John Prescott; and European Transport Commissioner Karel van Miert. The union fears Continental drivers are unaware of UK law.
Eric Lill, general manager of Fearns Tankers says he is "delighted" by Haigh's court victory: "I hope this ruling will provide a guideline so that drivers can have a moderate drink when they're away from home. It cannot be right to knock on a driver's door when he's in bed in his sleeper compartment — it is no different from the police waking someone in their home and accusing them of intending to drive in the morning,"