Hand sanitiser sparks drink drive warning in New Zealand

As Margie Sutherland lathered on a hand gel to ward off swine flu she had no idea it would land her in a spot of bother with police. Last Thursday the Uruti School principal failed a roadside breath test after it was presented to her by an unimpressed police officer.

But despite sitting in a car that "smelled like a brewery" Mrs Sutherland hadn't drunk a drop instead she had just rubbed a 65 per cent ethyl alcohol hand sanitiser on herself and her licence. "I wound down the window and the smell must have hit him in the face. The stuff smells like a big gin," she said.

After being told by the officer "we take drink driving very seriously", Mrs Sutherland said she was then accused of having "had a few drinks" and given an initial "talk in to breath test".



"He got the machine and I just couldn't stop laughing and big red fail came up," she said. Imagine being drunk and disorderly on hand sanitiser! He probably thought I was trolleyed by then."

After a second "blow in to" test, Mrs Sutherland was cleared and explained to the officer it must have been the sanitiser. "I said to him after the day I've had, a few drinks doesn't sound too bad," she said. "I would never drink and drive, I take it very seriously, I'm the last person who would do it."

Perfume and cologne have been known to have the same effect on the testers as when in passive mode, they pick up traces of alcohol in the air. A police spokesperson said officers were recently warned that the increasingly popular use of sanitiser would produce a positive result on the tests.