Stevenage businessman banned from driving for failing to give blood test

A BUSINESSMAN who refused to give a blood sample to police after being involved in a crash in which two special police constables were injured has been banned from driving for 16 months.

Christopher Standen, of Wychdell in Stevenage, was involved in a crash in Lowestoft on February 14.

Yesterday (Monday), Lowestoft Magistrates' Court heard that although he gave a breath test at the crash scene - which recorded twice the legal limit of alcohol permitted - Standen refused to give a blood test while at the James Paget University Hospital.

Giving evidence, Standen, 29, said he refused to give a blood sample because he was unhappy with the way police officers at the hospital had spoken to him, as he believed he was being blamed for the crash in which officers had been hurt.

He said he was not warned that he could face prosecution if he did not give a sample, that the police officer did not fill out the necessary form correctly, and that he thought the breath test he had given was enough to show that he had been drinking.

PC Gary Brown told the court that he had explained the procedure for giving a blood sample, filled out the necessary form at Standen's bedside, and told Standen that he could be prosecuted if he failed to cooperate.

Standen, who runs his own recruitment company, was found guilty of failing to provide a sample, and had previously pleaded guilty to failing to stop for a uniformed police officer. He could not be prosecuted for drink driving because he had refused to give a second sample.

He was disqualified from driving for 16 months and ordered to pay �1,070 in fines and costs.