DRIVERS are continuing to drink and drive, despite police warnings that officers will be vigilant during the Christmas and New Year campaign.

Latest figures show that by Friday, 225 motorists had been caught drinking and driving across Essex, after 5,847 drivers were breath tested with one man, arrested in north Essex, found to be almost five times the legal limit.

He has pleaded guilty to drink-driving after giving a breath sample registering 173 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 35. He has received an interim ban and will be sentenced later this month.

Police spokeswoman Heather Watts said: "All people arrested or involved in collisions over the campaign will live with the consequences in both the short and long-term.

"We continue to encourage drivers not to drink and drive. Obviously that message isn't getting home because at the moment the percentage of positive tests is 3.85 per cent, which is higher than last year's final percentage positive."

She added: "We would urge passengers to refuse to be carried in vehicles by drivers who have been drinking. It's everybody's responsibility to make sure that people do not drink and drive."

She said the interim figures for the Christmas and New Year campaign from December 1 to December 28 showed that a "consistent number of people" were drinking and driving.

In addition to the 225 drink-drivers, ten motorists had been arrested for driving while impaired through drink or drugs and 19 had failed or refused to provide a breath test.

Chief Inspector Tom Diment, manager of the Essex Police mobile support division, said: "If people choose to drink and drive they will feel the full weight of the law. A conviction for such an offence can and does ruin peoples' lives."

December 31, 2001 12:31