Shopkeeper who led police on high-speed chase on A689 banned for failing to give breath test
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Avtar Singh, 38, initially denied failing to provide a breath sample for analysis, but changed his plea to guilty when he appeared before Teesside Magistrates’ Court.
Saba Shan, prosecuting, said on September 8 last year police were in pursuit of Singh on the A689, reaching speeds of up to 80mph in a 40mph zone.
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Hide AdMs Shan said an officer managed to pull him over and said the defendant was laughing and he could smell alcohol.
She said: “He asked him to do a breath test and he refused.”
The prosecutor said at the police station Singh did agree to do a breath test.
She said: “But, rather than blow into the device, he was blowing air out of the side of his mouth.”
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Hide AdMs Shan said there were a number of attempts made, but he didn’t give a sample of breath and said he had asthma.
Singh, who was not represented in court, said he asked for a doctor or nurse at the time of the breath test, but didn’t get one.
But, for the charge of failing to provide a sample Singh, of Gainsborough Crescent, Billingham, was given a six-week curfew, a 12-month driving ban and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £90 surcharge.