Sainsbury’s banned from selling alcohol.

A Sainsbury’s supermarket in Portsmouth has become one of the first in the country to be banned from selling alcohol after being caught serving under-18s.

The Sainsbury’s in Farlington will stop selling alcohol for 48 hours from 0700 BST on Friday after failing three test purchases between January and March.

Police said staff have since refused selling alcohol to children in sting operations after March.

Sainsbury’s apologised to customers and said it was a “responsible retailer”.

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Blow Me Featured on BBC Radio

We are pleased to inform you that Blow Me had a 30 minutes slot talking with BBC Essex radio about the dangers of alcohol in your system the ‘morning after’.

Topics discussed were how many drinks would take you over the limit the following morning and over what timescales to what the largest reading we have ever had. (which by the way was 1.78 at 10 AM! The UK limit being 0.35.)

We were pleased to be asked to talk about our service by the BBC and hope it provided a good insight about what we do and the dangers of drink driving.

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Blow Me director hit by drunk driver!

After just leaving Blow Me HQ in London Blow Me Director Sam Rose left in his car  heading home.

Whilst stationary in traffic and without warning a large van with a drunk driver at the wheel didn’t attempt to brake for the traffic slamming into the car behind Sam. The car that was hit proceeded to crash into the back of Sam’s car which in turn hit the car infront. Witnesses stated that the van was travelling at around 40mph on impact.

After someone called the emergency services we tried to calm the two other parties and make sure they were ok when we heard the van driver trying to start his van again.  We confronted him and someone forced the keys from him which is when we noticed he smelt of alcohol.

I am glad to say that after 3 of us went to the local hospital we all just had minor injuries.

The Van driver who we will not name was taken straight to the local police station and charged with driving under the influence of drink or drugs. (He wasn’t fit enough to take a breathalyser test)

Now the chances of the director of an alcohol breath testing company being hit by a drunk driver is quite rare (let alone ironic) however this problem is in the workplace as this event shows – this driver was actually on his way home from work and had been drinking in his van all afternoon.

If you have been involved in any similar events we would like to hear from you so please get in touch.

This is a picture of the driver of the van - he was too drunk to even stand up. He was tended for a cut to his head by paramedics and then taken straight to the local police station. (the face has been blurred to comply with our no Name and Shame policy.

The above is the scene of the crash.

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Blow Me are coming to a festival near you!

That’s right, we are currently sourcing sponsorship for the leading festivals in the UK. 

We want to offer the visitors somewhere to make sure they are legal to drive after the music and booze filled events. The ‘Alcohol breath testing station’ would be setup near the exits and will be offered free of charge to the public (in most cases) We are currently looking for companies that would be willing to help prevent people from unknowingly drink driving when they leave by getting in touch and seeing how we can promote their brand through our breath testing service!

We will update the Blog on the progress and looking forward to seeing you in a muddy field sometime soon!

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Outdoor Alcohol Ban takes effect

Drinking in the streets and parks Kirriemuir and Arbroath town centres has been banned.

Anyone who breaks this new law on consuming alcohol outdoors faces a fine of up to £500.

Kirriemuir council has been campaigning for years for an alcohol ban.

Chairman Roland Proctor said “It’s been a long hard battle, the majority of people in Kirriemuir go out to pubs and enjoy themselves and have a drink in a peaceful fashion, but there is an element which does cause quite a lot of trouble and hopefully this will cut that down”

We at Blow Me think this is just the start of a nationwide ban to control the young drink culture in the UK.

(it’s not all bad news as the rules will be relaxed on new years eve!)

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6 Days Breath Testing In Europe

Another European trip over, 520 breathalyser tests and a large number of people prevented from unknowingly drink driving.

The team have just returned from an actioned packed week hired by the Cannonball Run Europe www.cannonballruneurope.co.uk breath testing every driver each morning. The elegant evening parties followed by early starts we ensured every driver had no alcohol in their systems each morning. 

Testing was carried out in the hotel lobbys before leaving to the next destination - Portugal, Spain and France were all visited during the 3000 mile trip. 

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Blow-Me featured on Springwise.com

We are very proud to be featured today on www.springwise.com the website that tracks down cutting edge and unique ideas across the globe.

They wrote:

 

It’s estimated that one in every three traffic fatalities in Europe involve alcohol-impaired drivers. In the US, alcohol-related car crashes kill someone every 31 minutes, according to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the problem extends around the world. Blow Me is a UK-based company that hopes to reduce such statistics by bringing its mobile alcohol breath-testing service to private and corporate events.

Event organizers can hire Blow Me to attend any party or other happening where alcohol will be served. With the same equipment used by police forces throughout the UK, Blow Me’s trained team conducts unlimited alcohol breath tests for event guests in a non-threatening and professional manner. Both branded and unbranded packages are available, and Blow Me’s staff will follow any dress code to suit the occasion—tux and ties if needed. They can offer custom promotional materials, if requested, as well as information for guests about local transport options. The result, Blow Me hopes, is that more people will think twice before getting behind the wheel. Package prices start at GBP 695.

Launched in 2006, London-based Blow Me serves clients all over Europe; by January of this year it had stopped more than 1,000 people from unknowingly driving drunk, founder Sam Rose says. Undoubtedly it has also enhanced many a company’s corporate image. Blow Me is currently considering franchising the brand—one to bring to an area near you?

To see the post visit www.springwise.com

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Blow Me at the Scumball 3000

For the past 4 days Blow-Me have been across Europe accompanying the drivers of the Scumball3000 rally.

It was a nice change to step out of our corporate clothes although we had our work cut out once we realised what we were letting ourselves in for!

Blow-Me traveled with the rally which raised over £48,000 for Whizz Kidz and tested the 97 drivers each morning.  As you can see from the photo its wasnt our usual ’suited and booted’ clientele however the service was still appreciated by the drivers who had been partying until the early hours most nights!

Each morning we tested every driver and they had their hand stamped with a green ‘pass’ or a red ‘fail’ before leaving the venues, the drivers had to show the event staff a ‘pass’ before they were allowed to leave in their car.

www.scumball3000.co.uk

http://www.whizz-kidz.org.uk/

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6 TIMES THE DRINK LIMIT!

Drink driver gets jail and ban.

Alcoholic Peter Banks, 44, after being spotted staggering at a petrol station was reported to Police by witnesses. He was followed by a Police car and stopped where they asked him to take an alcohol breath test. The results from the breathalyser showed he was SIX times the limit and is now thought to be the UK’s worse drink driver by the papers.

Banks told officers he was on the way to his chip shop and commented ‘I’m an alcoholic’

After another breathalyser test back at the station, the lower result (they always take two tests) showed 210mg, six times the legal limit (35mg) the second test read 220mg!

Over the years of Blow-Me breath testing many people our highest ‘recorded’ test was 176mg at the end of a corporate event last year. Anything near to or over 180mg is a serious health risk and even death.

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Blow-Me launches new blog!

‘Keep up at the back’ people have been shouting to me when it comes to blogging so here it is!

At Blow-Me HQ we often give advice to companies regarding their alcohol ‘problems’ within their company so we thought here would be a good place to share out views, ideas and solutions when it comes to all things alcohol related.

With alcohol breath testing getting more and more popular at events all over Europe we are getting quite busy for 2008 (and also some dates in 2009) however we will try and find the time to update the blog as often as we can keeping it fresh and interesting!

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