Traffic

Driving with excess alcohol - defendant in driving seat of stationary vehicle with engine running and lights on - defendant 'driving' even though vehicle stationaryPlanton v Director of Public Prosecutions: DC (Pill LJ and Silber J): 6 June 2001The defendant was seen by the police in the driving seat of a stationary motor car with the engine running and lights on, half way down a causeway linking an island to the mainland.

The causeway was sometimes passable and sometimes submerged by tidal water.The defendant failed a roadside breath test and was convicted of driving with excess alcohol, contrary to section 5(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

He appealed against conviction on the ground that he was not 'driving' the motor vehicle since it was not moving at the material time.Jamas Hodivala (instructed by F H Bright & Sons, Witham) for the defendant.

Noel Casey (instructed by the Crown Prosecution Service) for the prosecutor.Held, that driving was not limited to the circumstance where the vehicle was actually moving; that, it was a question of fact and degree as to whether a cessation of movement had been so long and in such circumstances that it could not reasonably be said that the person in the driving seat was driving; that the justices had been entitled to find that the defendant had been driving at the relevant time; but that the appeal would be allowed on other grounds.