Tired doctor pulled over on side of road after hospital shift - hours later she was in a police cell

Tired Laura Quest, 61, was pulled over by police at the Lymm services in Warrington and ordered to take a breath test by patrolmen who believed she was intoxicated

An exhausted doctor who was arrested while napping in her car after a long hospital shift has hit out at police, complaining she was treated poorly and ordered to take a breath test procedure while "obviously not drunk".

Dr Laura Quest, 61, was pulled aside by police at 1.40am on September 6 after they spotted her Citroen C4 straddling two parking bays at Lymm services on the M6 in Warrington. The locum gastroenterologist had taken the opportunity to rest after a shift at Tameside hospital when she was approached by the officers, who suspected she was drunk.

One of the men conducted a breath test procedure, and Dr Quest was arrested after she failed to adequately blow into the breathalyser machine. The doctor, who has now been found "morally blameless" by a judge, has slammed police for treating her "really badly" adding that their actions cost her a job.

The Manchester Evening News reports that Dr Quest provided a zero reading for alcohol during a separate breath test after she was taken in by police, and she was initially charged with failing to cooperate at the roadside following the confrontation. A judge presiding over her hearing at Warrington magistrates court declared the case "slightly unusual", and said police were "certainly confused".

District Judge Jack McGarva told her: "The roadside sample is a slightly unusual case because when you were in the police station you were able to provide a sample and the sample showed absolute zero for alcohol. Police were certainly confused because they have put you down as being tired which you say was the true position."

Judge McGarva declared her "morally blameless", adding: "While technically guilty of failing to provide a sample, I do not believe that you have done anything wrong." Dr Quest admitted to failing to cooperate with a preliminary test, and was given an absolute discharge.

However, the judge pulled her up on failing to insure her car, with the court hearing she was given a six month disqualification in November under the totting up procedure after she was caught speeding on other occasions. The doctor was fined £120 - spread across £80 in costs and a £48 victim surcharge - and given six points on her licence. The MEN reported that it was not clarified why the motoring offences were not dealt with altogether.

Dr Quest said the insurance issue was a "paperwork error", with Judge McGarva adding: "I appreciate the difficulties going on in your life, but it is your responsibility to be insured so I have to take a tough line on that. You need to drive very carefully. If you get more points, you will be liable to another ban. Make sure you have your affairs properly sorted out.”

Diana Przemecka, prosecuting, had told the hearing police spoke to Dr Quest at the services and noted her "glazed" eyes, which they put down to tiredness. As they spent time with the doctor, the prosecutor said the officers believed she "presented as though intoxicated".

She added: "The officers requested a specimen of breath at the roadside from the defendant. The defendant was given several opportunities to provide a sample of breath at the roadside. However, she failed to do so. Therefore she was arrested and taken to custody. Checks were completed on the vehicle that the defendant was driving at the time.

"A police national computer check confirmed the vehicle in question, that being the white Citroen, had no insurance. The defendant could not provide any form of insurance at the roadside either. The defendant was asked to provide a specimen of breath in custody. She complied with the request and provided a reading of zero.''

In her own statement, Dr Quest said she had done "as she was supposed to" and pulled over after feeling sleepy en route home from her shift, adding she "tried my best to do the breath test" but was accused of not trying. She added: "I was aspirating and for some reason I could not blow out and they got quite annoyed with me.

"They took me to this police station where I was standing up and I managed to do one and that was absolute zero. I had been working. I rarely drink, even when I am not driving." Speaking after the hearing, she said she felt she was "treated really badly by the police" and "obviously not drunk" when approached by the officers.

She said: "I am quite old and unfit and I was telling them that and to arrest me and then they put me in cell all night in the police station. She searched me in the car, this female police officer, and then searched me in front of the officers again. What was the justification for that? I hadn’t been away from them. And why did she not do it in private?

“And then because I was upset they locked me up and said they were worried about my mental health. And then because I could not attend the clinic the next day I got sacked from that job. I am a locum. You don’t have any rights and they just hear ‘police’ and think you have done something wrong. They did not seem interested in hearing my side of it.''