Driving Under Influence

(asked on 13th July 2026) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average time was between (a) a roadside drug test, (b) the taking of an evidential sample, (c) receipt of toxicology results and (d) the first court hearing for drug driving cases in the latest period for which data is available.


Answered by
Lilian Greenwood Portrait
Lilian Greenwood
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 16th July 2026

The Department does not hold data on the average time between each of the stages specified. Operational information relating to roadside testing, evidential samples and forensic toxicology is held by the police and forensic service providers, while court listing is a matter for the independent courts.

The Department has not estimated the number of people arrested or charged for a drug-driving offence who were subsequently arrested for a further alleged drug-driving offence before the conclusion of the original proceedings in each of the last five years. This information is not held centrally by the Department for Transport.

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