A driver was cleared of refusing to give a breath sample – as he was too drunk to blow into a police breathalyser, a court heard.
Jonathan Smith, 44, was pulled over in the early hours of the morning after cops spotted him driving without his lights on.
Officers took him to a police station and ordered him to use a breathalyser but he was unable to blow into the device despite five attempts.
He was arrested and admitted failing to provide a specimen for analysis.
In a ruling, magistrate Kevin Lloyd-Wright told him: “We don’t believe there was a deliberate refusal.
“We do believe there was a high level of impairment, which could be one of the reasons you could not breath into the machine.”
Worcester Magistrates’ Court heard Smith was stopped at 3.20am on April 1 in Barnard’s Green Road, Malvern, Worcs., without his lights on.
Prosecutor Owen Beale said: “He was disorientated, unsteady on his feet and smelt of alcohol.
“At the police station he tried on five different occasions – he didn’t blow into the machine properly.”
Smith, of Malvern, who had no previous convictions, told JPs he had been upset after learning about a friend’s death.
He said: “Hence I was emotional.
“As far as I was aware I wasn’t drunk.
“I don’t understand it, I blew five times.
“As far as I was aware I was doing exactly what they (the police) were telling me to do.
“I have never been in this position before.”
Smith, who runs his own gardening business, was banned from driving for 18 months and ordered to pay costs totalling £249.
