One in five London breath-tests positive

Nearly one in five motorists failed breath-tests in London over Christmas and New Year - double the national rate, new figures reveal.

Police tested 1,003 drivers in the capital following collisions and discovered 188 were over the legal alcohol limit.

Nationally fewer than one in 10 drivers - 8.75 per cent - failed breath-tests after being involved in crashes, Association of Chief Police Officers figures show.

A sharp rise in the proportion caught drink-driving over the year before is also revealed: in 2003 only 13 per cent of motorists in the capital-failed police breath-tests. Today the figures were attacked as "highly shocking" by safety campaigners and police officers.

Caroline Chisholm of road safety organisation Brake said: "The figures for London show that the message to drivers is not getting through."

The rise was described as "very disappointing" by the Met.