Oh No Mr Merson

Two well known people, two consecutive days, two stories about alcohol.

Yesterday Sarah Harding, today Paul Merson. Life can be very cruel sometimes.

Apparently Paul Merson was found to have given a positive roadside breath test however due to injuries sustained in the crash he had with a 40 tonne vehicle he was taken to hospital where blood tests were taken. Now the results of those blood tests will be pretty immediate. The ED doctors treating him will already know what his blood alcohol level was. They need that information so as to treat more effectively someone in the Emergency Department. The official reading will take up to 6 weeks.

And unfortunately this will be a case for strengthening Phillip Hammond's resolve to remove the statutory blood test for those people blowing between 35 and 50 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The accuracy of hand held portable devices and even the larger evidential intoximeters in Police Station is well documented as being questionable, particularly in the area highlighted above so what if Mr Merson's readings come back negative? Well it was just a time factor will be the answer from the makers of the intoximeter. Well they need to protect their market place don't they.

And all of this makes an excellent soundbite even if it is fundamentally the wrong approach to drinking and driving.

Now let me make this absolutely clear before all the finger waving starts at me: I loathe drinking and driving.

But I also loathe unfair systems!

If we are serious about stopping incidents like the Paul Merson situation then we have to get serious about what we are going to do. Draconian punishments should be part of the plan but they should be reserved for all those people who have basically stuck two fingers up at our society.

There is a solution to stopping drinking and driving that will have so many knock on effects on our country in terms of positive outcomes. It will help educate people, it will give people really great public transport and it will create jobs. And the irony is that the alcohol companies will not lose out either.

There is a third way, I know what it is but has Phillip Hammond got the guts to put it before his cabinet colleagues. I doubt it, he hasn't even got the guts to talk to me! Why? Because the politicians are only interested in the next 5 years, not our country's future!