ONE in 28 drivers were caught by cops over the limit during a month-long enforcement campaign over the festive period.

Police Scotland have expressed disappointment at the results which were Scotland wide.

Of the 15,771 drivers stopped during the 2017/18 festive campaign, a total of 567 were detected for drink/drug driving, compared with 625 during the same period in 2016/17. An average of 471 drivers were breathalysed everyday during the blitz.

The number of people detected who tested between the old and new limits dropped from 57 (9%) last year to 18 (3%) this year. Of the 567 detected, 39 (7%) were caught the morning after down from 46 (7%) in 2016/17. The number of requested vehicle forfeitures, at 48, remained the same as last year.

We reported on the safety checks across the city last month. Officers from the road patrol unit for the Greater Glasgow division stopped dozens of vehicles on Cathcart Road in the city’s Southside.

During the campaign, a taxi driver, carrying passengers, was found to be two-and-a-half times the limit after officers stopped him when he was seen jumping a red light in Paisley.

Chief Superintendent Stewart Carle said: “It is disappointing that the proportion of drivers detected has increased. Notably, there were fewer drivers caught driving while still intoxicated ‘the morning after’, but there remains a hard-core of drivers who continue to risk their lives and the lives of others by drink/drug driving. Very few of those caught were found to be between the new alcohol limit of 22mg per 100ml of breath and the old limit 35mg per 100 ml of breath. In fact, many of those caught were found to be significantly over the previous drink drive breath limit, some following road traffic collisions in which people were injured.

“We will be carrying out further research into offending patterns to improve our intelligence-led approach to identify and tackle that hard core of offenders in our future campaigns. Our message based on decades of experience and research remains simple: there is no safe limit for alcohol or drugs if you are going to be driving. Don’t risk it.”