I don't have the puff for breath test, claims piper

A PIPE major has convinced a judge that years of playing the bagpipes had made him unable to complete a breathalyser test.

William Menzies was pulled over by police and was unable to supply enough breath to complete a roadside screening test and a further breath test at the police station.

Mr Menzies, 65, musical director of the City of Hastings Pipe Band in New Zealand, was facing the mandatory six-month disqualification period after being accused of failing to take the tests last December. But judge Bridget Mackintosh accepted Mr Menzies' breathing technique as a bagpiper made him unable to breathe into the breathalyser.

She reduced his disqualification to just one month and fined him NZ$500 (250).

Mr Menzies had also refused to supply a blood sample.

His lawyer, Bill Calver, pleaded special circumstances and said his client had only had two drinks and was confident he would not have failed the test.

Police prosecutor Tanya Peterson had opposed the application.

Outside court, Mr Menzies said: "I was trying to blow into it, but, for whatever reason, it wasn't working. Essentially a bagpiper is taught to blow with pressure, yet a controlled pressure. From what I understand, breathalysers don't ask for this, they need a greater volume of air."

Mr Menzies did not comment on why he refused to give a blood sample.

Dugald MacNeill, chairman and former principal of the College of Piping in Glasgow, said: "Even an old woman could blow into a breathalyser.

"I think there must have been a very sympathetic judge in this case. I hope no other pipers get ideas about telling a story like that or using it as a test case. Playing the bagpipes improves the lungs.

"Certainly, they use controlled pressure, but then they need to be able to blast it out when it comes to playing the actual bagpipes.

"Mr Menzies was right in some respects in saying pipers needed controlled breathing, but the flaw in that argument is that the breathalyser doesn't need controlled pressure.

"Quite a few pipers have been breathalysed in Scotland and I wouldn't expect this verdict to be used as a defence."

John Scott, an Edinburgh-based human rights lawyer, said: "I've heard a variety of things over the years to get off charges, but this is the most innovative. However, I suspect this man was very lucky and I don't think such a defence will catch on."

Vince Yearly, spokesman for the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: "It's a very far-fetched strategy to even think for one minute that playing the bagpipes would get you off any sort of driving charge.

"We would not recommend this defence to any bagpiper. Finally, we do not recommend drinking and playing the bagpipes."