'More people drink and drug drive every year'

PC Ella Thornton said people needed to know that drinking and driving was not acceptable

Lancashire Police have launched 'Operation Limit' in a bid to curb rising levels of drink and drug-related casualties over Christmas with extra road patrols, drink and drug check sites and educational messages.

Lancashire Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Kimberley Whitehead said: "Every festive period our officers see consequences first-hand with families devastated.

"Operation Limit is, simply put, about saving lives over Christmas."

Police charged 314 people with either drink or drug driving at the same time last year as officers conducted 2,496 drink and drug tests.

Kimberley Whitehead is the deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire

Police said that the number of people charged rises every year, particularly in relation to drug-driving offences.

During the first checkpoint in Preston, a man was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of cannabis after a car was pulled over in a routine check.

PC Pete Weatherstone, from Lancashire Police, said: "My colleague immediately smelled cannabis from the vehicle when they wound the window down."

Other drivers in Preston were given tickets for other offences, including insecure loads.

Police said the number of people charged rises every year

His colleague PC Ella Thornton explained: "People need to be getting the message that it's not acceptable to drink and drive."

She added officers often catch people who drank the night before "and still think that they can risk it and go to work the next morning."

The stereotype is untrue, she said, that often it is young men drink or drug driving.

"It's working people, younger, older... we have a mix of people across the board," she added.

Operation Limit also involves messaging from the police on pub screens, petrol pumps and other key locations.