Over 7,000 people arrested for drink-driving in West Yorkshire in last three years
According to data obtained by law firm Legal Expert via Freedom of Information (FOI) Act requests, West Yorkshire Police made a total of 7,254 arrests for drink-driving between December 2021 and November 2024, with 5,685 charges made.
It is the fourth highest number of arrests recorded out of all UK police forces since 2021, coming behind only London, Northern Ireland and the West Midlands.
A West Yorkshire Police chief described the offence as "absolutely unacceptable" - and said the force takes it "very seriously".
West Yorkshire Police also revealed the most prolific areas for drink-driving in the last year in the FOI response. Leeds came out on top, with 651 arrests made in 2023-24. It was followed by Bradford, where 413 arrests were made.
A further 377 arrests were made in Kirklees, 359 in Wakefield and 216 in Calderdale. The most common age group to be arrested for drink-driving in West Yorkshire in the last year was those aged between 18 and 34, accounting for 43 per cent of the figures, closely followed by 35 to 51-year-olds, making up 42 per cent. Eighty per cent of people arrested for drink-driving in West Yorkshire last year were male.
Legal Expert's road traffic accident specialist, Tracy Chick, said: "Drink-driving is such an avoidable offence and there is no excuse for drinking and getting behind the wheel." Chief Inspector James Farrar, head of the roads policing unit at West Yorkshire Police, said: "Driving while under the influence of drink and drugs is absolutely unacceptable.
"It is a cause of some of the very serious collisions we see on our roads which often lead to people being killed or seriously injured.
"West Yorkshire Police takes drink and drug-driving very seriously - and we conduct regular road safety operations all year round to catch those committing driving offences, including drink and drug-driving.
"We do, of course, also continue to carry out our specialist Operation Limit drink and drug-drive campaign every Christmas and New Year.
"The Christmas 2024 Operation Limit, which recently concluded, resulted in 186 suspected drink-drive arrests, and 93 for suspected drug-driving.
"We will prosecute in all cases where persons are found to be over the drink-drive limit and also continue to support our Vision Zero partnership strategy in West Yorkshire."
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