A tired doctor took a nap in her car after her hospital shift and ended up in a police cell, a court heard.
Dr Laura Quest was arrested after she failed to provide a roadside breath test. But she has now been discharged and deemed ‘morally blameless’ by a judge after the 61-year-old insisted she had been having a sleep in her car after finishing work at Tameside Hospital.
The locum gastroenterologist was woken up by two officers who suspected she was drunk at the wheel after her Citroen C4 was spotted parked across two bays at Lymm services on the M6 at 1.40am on September 6. One of the patrolmen conducted a breath test procedure at the roadside but when Dr Quest failed to adequately blow into the breathalyser machine she was arrested for failing to cooperate with a preliminary test and taken to police station.
READ MORE: Dealer hid drugs in underpants before leaving them in police car
She subsequently gave a zero reading for alcohol during a separate test but was still charged with failing to co-operate with police at the roadside. She was also found to be driving without insurance and subsequently lost her locum job at Tameside General Hospital when she was unable to attend a morning clinic due to her arrest.
At Warrington magistrates court, Dr Quest, of Barnston on The Wirral, admitted failing to cooperate with a preliminary test and was given an absolute discharge. But she was fined £120 and given six points for having no insurance although she insisted that offence was a ‘paperwork error’.
She was also ordered to pay £80 costs and a £48 victim surcharge. The court heard she was given a six month disqualification last month under the totting up procedure after being caught speeding on other occasions.
It is not known why all the motoring offences were not dealt with altogether. District Judge Jack McGarva told her: “The roadside sample is a slightly unusual case because when you were in the police station you were able to provide a sample and the sample showed absolute zero for alcohol. Police were certainly confused because they have put you down as being tired which you say was the true position.
“I do feel that you are morally blameless for failing to provide. ‘While technically guilty of failing to provide a sample, I do not believe that you have done anything wrong. I appreciate the difficulties going on in your life, but it is your responsibility to be insured so I have to take a tough line on that.
“You need to drive very carefully. If you get more points, you will be liable to another ban. Make sure you have your affairs properly sorted out.”
Earlier Diana Przemecka, prosecuting, told the hearing police who spoke to Dr Quest at the services initially put her ‘glazed’ eyes down to tiredness.
She added: “However the longer the officers spent with the defendant she presented as though intoxicated. The officers requested a specimen of breath at the roadside from the defendant.
“The defendant was given several opportunities to provide a sample of breath at the roadside. However, she failed to do so. Therefore she was arrested and taken to custody.
“Checks were completed on the vehicle that the defendant was driving at the time. A police national computer check confirmed the vehicle in question, that being the white Citroen, had no insurance.
“The defendant could not provide any form of insurance at the roadside either. The defendant was asked to provide a specimen of breath in custody. She complied with the request and provided a reading of zero.”
Dr Quest told the court: “I had been working all day at Tameside General Hospital and I worked later in the office. I was driving home and I got tired so I pulled into Lymm Services. I probably was not well parked but it was fairly empty at the services. I was asleep in the car. Two police officers woke me up.
“They complained I looked drunk. The fact is I looked tired because I was tired. I had worked all day. As you are supposed to if you are tired I pulled over and had a nap.
”I tried my best to do the breath test but they accused me of not trying. I was aspirating and for some reason I could not blow out and they got quite annoyed with me. They took me to this police station where I was standing up and I managed to do one and that was absolute zero.
“I had been working. I rarely drink, even when I am not driving.”
Speaking after the hearing, Dr Quest said: “I felt I was treated really badly by the police. I was working late and tired. I was obviously not drunk. I was in work clothes. I was accused of not trying with the breath test. I am quite old and unfit and I was telling them that and to arrest me and then they put me in cell all night in the police station.
“She searched me in the car, this female police officer, and then searched me in front of the officers again. What was the justification for that? I hadn’t been away from them. And why did she not do it in private?
“And then because I was upset they locked me up and said they were worried about my mental health. And then because I could not attend the clinic the next day I got sacked from that job. I am a locum. You don’t have any rights and they just hear ‘police’ and think you have done something wrong. They did not seem interested in hearing my side of it.”
