A Peterborough woman joins an ‘elite’ group after a court ordered her to wear an alcohol monitoring device banning her from drinking for 120 days. The order was part of the sentence given to her by Peterborough magistrates on January 17 after she admitted drink driving.
Santa Petrauskaite, 32, was arrested after she collided with an oncoming vehicle and cars parked nearby in Dogsthorpe Road, Dogsthorpe, on 4 November.
She initially denied driving, telling police officers she had been in the car with two people she had never met before.
However, witnesses confirmed she was the only occupant of the vehicle.
In custody, she gave a reading of 83 – the legal limit being 35.
Petrauskaite, of Stanwick Court, West Town, Peterborough, was sentenced to 8 weeks in prison, suspended for a year.
She was also given a four-year driving ban by Peterborough magistrates’ after admitting drink driving, driving without insurance, and driving without a licence.
She must also complete a 120-day Alcohol Abstinence Requirement and a 15-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR).
Government figures show that around 2,800 individuals were fitted with an alcohol monitoring device at the end of November 2023. This is 900 more than the number who were fitted with a monitoring device at the end of December 2022.
Of the alcohol tags used to monitor alcohol abstinence and monitoring requirements (AAMR), as of November 2023 the tags did not register a tamper or alcohol alert 97.3% of the days worn since their introduction in October 2020.
Alcohol monitoring was introduced to courts in Wales in October 2020 and went live throughout England on 31 March 2021 to support the new community sentencing option, the Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring Requirement (AAMR).
An AAMR may only be used when sentencing for alcohol-related criminal behaviour and it imposes a total ban on drinking alcohol for up to 120 days.
Compliance with the ban is monitored electronically using an alcohol tag which continuously monitors for the presence of alcohol via an offenders’ sweat.
A non-compliant event is constituted as either a confirmed alcohol event or a registered tamper with a tag. The compliance rate is a measure of the percentage of compliant days without a registered tamper or alcohol alert across the whole of the AAMR cohort.
Alcohol monitoring can be imposed by the court as part of a community order or suspended sentence order where:
- the offence, or associated offence, for which the requirement is being imposed, is alcohol related.
- the subject is not alcohol dependent or has an Alcohol Treatment Requirement (ATR) recommended or in place; and
- the subject is an adult (18 years or over)
The tagging equipment will be installed at a probation office and anyone subject to such an order must attend that office on a date and time to have their tag fitted.
The tag is fitted by a monitoring company. The tag must be worn at all times during the term of the requirement.
Those tagged must allow access for the monitoring company staff so they can fit the tag and explain how it works.
PC Phoebe Bird, who investigated, said: “Driving while under the influence of drink or drugs reduces your ability to react which could lead to serious harm, and fortunately no one was injured on this occasion.
“If you have information or concerns for someone driving while intoxicated, please report it to us.”
Cambridge Police operates a confidential hotline – 0800 032 0845 – which is available 24/7 and allows the reporting of those believed to be driving under the influence.
