A DISTRICT judge has slammed police for not prosecuting a convicted drink-driver despite him giving a positive road side test.

Aaron John Pendlebury claimed he was over the limit because he had drunk vodka after the crash in Blackburn.

Despite giving a roadside reading almost twice the limit, and another positive breath test at the station, officers believed his claims.

They decided not to carry out a blood test which would have been able to pinpoint when the drinking had taken place.

Instead Pendlebury, who has three previous convictions for drink driving, was prosecuted for driving without insurance and while disqualified.

But district judge Peter Ward said the police actions in not bringing drink-drive charges ‘beggared belief’.

He asked for further investigations into why police did not carry out the blood test.

Now a senior officer will be examining the case to see if the action taken was correct.

And Pendlebury himself last night admitted he should have been given a blood test as he said it would have proved he was telling the truth.

Blackburn magistrates heard Pendlebury was involved in a crash on Sunday, June 12, and breathalysed.

Speaking after the case, Pendlebury, a labourer, said he was driving a Renault Megane because his girlfriend was unwell and her children needed picking up from Canterbury Street.

But as he pulled out of a junction on to nearby Sumner Street, he hit another car.

Pendlebury said: “There were no road markings and I thought I had right of way. It was my fault.

“I left my girlfriend with the car while I walked one minute to the friend’s house at Canterbury Street.

"I had a swig of vodka from the cupboard to settle my nerves. I didn’t think the police would be there because it was just a minor bump.

“I was no more than five minutes. When I got back to the scene I was given a roadside breath test and blew 61.”

Pendlebury said officers searched the fridge at the house he had been to, but found no vodka.

He was arrested, taken back to the station and said he registered 50 on a second breathalyser.

He told the interviewing officer the vodka had been in the cupboard, not in the fridge, adding ‘they took my word for it’.

“I should have been offered a blood test,” he said.

“I would have been happy to take it because that would have cleared my name as it would have showed I had a drink after the crash.”

On driving while disqualified, he added: “I know I shouldn’t have been driving. It was a stupid mistake.”

At Blackburn Magistrates’ Court Judge Ward said the police had ‘shot themselves in the foot’.

“The fact he claims to have had some vodka after the accident is neither here nor there,” said Judge Ward.

“It almost beggars belief that a man who has blown 50 in breath is not offered the option of giving blood and if that was positive he could have been charged and then the facts would have been the subject of a trial.”

Mr Ward said the statements showed an officer had searched a house and found two unopened cans of cider but no evidence of any vodka or other alcohol container.

“I can’t understand why this man, who has three previous convictions for driving with excess alcohol, wasn’t given the option of a blood sample and then prosecuted,” said Judge Ward.

“I would ask the prosecution to ask the police why he was not offered the option of a blood sample and the usual procedure followed.”

Pendlebury, 28, of Higher House Close, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified and without insurance.

He was bailed for the preparation of a pre-sentence report.

Motorists stopped and recorded at between 40 and 50 microgrammes in breath are usually given the option of a blood test.

The case is now set to be referred back to the divisional commander for scrutiny A spokesman for Lancashire Police said there was no new guidance around drink driving tests.

The spokesman said the closure of the Forensic Science Service in Chorley – which used to process blood samples in ‘post accident drink’ cases – was unconnected.