OVER-THE-LIMIT MP WARNS OF DAY-AFTER EFFECT

A LABOUR MP spoke yesterday of his "horror" at failing a breath test and
urged other drivers to learn from his experience.

Jamie Cann, 52, MP for Ipswich, failed the roadside test after he was
stopped for speeding as he drove his wife, Rosemary, to a friend's house at
lunchtime on Saturday. The former teacher admitted speeding and being over
the limit but said he had not had a drink on the day he was stopped. He
blamed the positive test on beer he had drunk at home the night before.

"I have never, ever, knowingly driven over the alcohol limit and, indeed, I
never drive if I have had more than a pint of beer," he said. "If I had had
an inkling I was over the limit my wife would have driven the car." He had
attended a political meeting in a local pub hours before the test but had
drunk orange juice.

A Suffolk police spokeswoman said Mr Cann was stopped as he drove at 40mph
through a 30mph zone at Martlesham. He was released on police bail to appear
before Deben magistrates, near Ipswich, next Monday.

Mr Cann added: "We were stopped for a minor motoring offence, in common with
other cars, and they decided to breathalyse me. To my horror I was over the
limit.

"That is the only time I have been over the limit in 25 years driving and I
did not have a clue that I was. I hope others will learn the lesson, namely
that you can't assume because of the passage of a number of hours and a
period of sleep that you are not still over the limit."

John Mowles, Mr Cann's election agent, said that the MP had always been a
staunch critic of anyone who knowingly broke alcohol limits. "Obviously it
was something left in his system," Mr Mowles said yesterday. "Jamie has
always said you should not drink and drive and if he had had a drink, he
would not drive."

A Labour Party spokesman said that disciplinary action against Mr Cann was
"very unlikely".

Checked-by: Don Beck