‘Drink-drive' lawyer said she couldn't take breathalyser test because she had ‘had her lips done'

Yahoo

09-02-2025

A lawyer caught drink driving told police she couldn't take a roadside breathalyser test because she had 'had her lips done', a court heard.
Rachel Tansey, 44, was pulled over at 2.20am after reports her silver Range Rover Discovery was 'weaving around' the road at 20 mph in a 60 mph zone.
But when asked to blow into the intoxilyzer machine, barrister Tansey was claimed she could not fully seal her lips around the tube because of the procedure.
Later when challenged the mother of three who lives in a £1.4 million mansion in Formby, Merseyside, said: 'Do not tell me what I can and cannot do. I am doing my very best. It is like asking someone to jump up after a tummy tuck. I cannot do it.'
Officers told Ms Tansey she would have to provide a blood sample, to which she responded: ''Good luck trying to get blood from me. Let's roll the dice. I will not consent to blood.'
She was subsequently charged with failing to provide breath and blood samples.
At Sefton magistrates court, Ms Tansey denied wrongdoing, insisting she had not been drinking and had only been driving slowly as she had dropped a chicken wrap she had been eating and also swilling mouthwash into a cup while travelling along Formby Bypass.
She also claimed the refusal to give blood was due to her having an undiagnosed phobia of needles. She said the cosmetic surgery was non-invasive but did not involve needles.
Convicting her of both charges, District Judge James Hatton told her: ''From the moment that you got out of the car you attempted to manipulate this situation.
''You have tried to delay and delay and delay the officers. You tell the officers that you had nothing to drink. Clearly you had at least something to drink.
'You refused as soon as you were aware of the roadside and you made no proper attempt to blow at the roadside. You say you had your lips done.
'Clearly you are now trying to backtrack from the obvious meaning of 'I have had my lips done' because you knew by inference it would infer a needle being used.
'You were argumentative with police at the police station, argumentative with the prosecutor today in court. When told about blood you made no mention of the phobia, you said 'Roll the dice'. You won't let your pulse be taken, you won't let your blood pressure be taken, you won't even try.
'I find it extremely unlikely indeed that you would be eating a chicken wrap, chewing gum and swilling the mouthwash and spitting it into a cup while driving along Formby Bypass.
'I reject your account in its entirety as there is no support for it. You are a witness who lacks any kind of credibility whatsoever.''
He bailed her for sentencing saying: ''This will likely be dealt with by way of a community order. But I will not tie the hands of the sentencing court and will leave all options open, including custody.''
The incident occurred on April 20, 2023, after Tansey who also runs a bar in Liverpool was reported to a police patrol about her erratic driving by an off-duty colleague.
PC Thomas Moore told the hearing: ''Upon opening the vehicle I could smell the scent of alcohol and she seemed to be slightly erratic in her behaviour. She automatically said she had been drinking plenty of mouthwash and eating chewing gum.
''She said that she would be unable to provide a roadside breath test because she had cosmetic surgery on her lips the day before. She was putting her lips around the tube and forming a seal at one point to provide a partial sample but could not complete and provide a full sample'
He added: 'She was very arrogant to be honest.'
Tansey told the court the procedure was an 'IPL,' a non-surgical skin treatment that using light to improve complexion.
'I have had IPL treatments - a course of six. You put them on your face and it is not invasive. It takes any hair from around your chin. These things happen when you get older. When I told them about my lip it was my upper lip,' she said.
''I have had a good few of those treatments and they say it can cause swelling and mild discomfort. It is UV light going on your skin. I have got very sensitive skin. But when I was talking about the procedure I have had, I was surrounded by seven men. I did not want to say 'I have had all my upper hair waxed off.'
The barrister said she was 'shocked and really anxious about what was going on' after being pulled over, and claimed that she had offered to provide a urine sample after failing to provide a breath or blood sample.
'If you ask me to give blood it's like the shutters come down. No chance. No way. I was in a high state of anxiety at the time and my head just goes to a different place. I was really angry that they would not take the urine off me. They would not listen It is just a knee jerk reaction. I just go into defence mode,' she said.
Ms Tansey was bailed for sentencing to March 4 at Liverpool Magistrates Court.
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