Police in Vantaa stopped a taxi driver in the early hours of Wednesday with a staggeringly high level of alcohol in his blood.
A breathalyser test taken at the car park of a Hotel Vantaa indicated a blood alcohol level of 5.23 per mille. The legal limit for aggravated drink driving is 1.2 parts per thousand. The limit for simple DUI is 0.5 (0.05%).
The driver had been working throughout the night, and was getting ready to take more passengers from the hotel when he was stopped by the police.
There had been a report earlier in the evening at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport that the man, who was born in 1954, had been driving in an unsteady fashion. However, he managed to leave the scene before the police arrived.
Police were not able to question the driver on Wednesday because of his powerful state of intoxication.
Finnish Taxi Association spokespersonNina Nizovsky says that cases of Finnish taxi drivers drinking on the job are rare.
“The view of the association is that a driver must not have any alcohol at all in the blood. In this case the reading is so staggeringly high that I am surprised that he survived.”
Nizovsky favours new legislation to fight drink driving by taxi drivers.
“We support the idea that a driver who is caught driving while under the influence should never be allowed behind the wheel of a taxi. It seems that such a new law could take effect next year.”
