Jonathan Gullis and Claire Reynolds today [18/12/2023] to meet with the Lord Chancellor, The Rt Hon Alex Chalk KC MP, to discuss the campaign to amend Section 7A of the Road Traffic Act 1988.
Legally, under Section 7A of the Road Traffic Act blood samples can be taken without a suspect’s consent, yet not subject to a test until consent is given. Therefore, in situations like this one, the investigation is delayed until consent is received.
We understand from Subsection 6) that:
“If a person fails to give their permission for a laboratory test of their blood sample without a reasonable excuse, then under Section 7A is guilty of an offence”.
It therefore seems that consent is a simple formality. Effectively, anything other than providing permission would constitute an offence. However, because Mr Owen was in a coma and was not able to give consent, the investigation into Mr Owen was protracted considerably and caused knock on delays moving forward.
Sharlotte’s Law would bring about a change in the law so that blood samples can be tested without consent. If this had been the law at the time, Mr Owen’s samples could have tested immediately without Sharlotte’s family going through 11 weeks of agony waiting.
A petition in support of this change in the law, which I intend to present to Parliament before the year comes to a close, has over 5500 signatures. This is on top of endorsements from drink driving charities BRAKE, Scard and the Campaign Against Drink Driving. In September, I was also proud to see Stoke-on-Trent City Council unanimously back a motion in support of our campaign.
The discussion centred around the question of blood sampling, where the Lord Chancellor made clear that the maximum sentence for withholding samples is six months. In effect, especially now that the Government have increased sentences for deaths by dangerous driving through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, the six-month penalty for for not giving blood samples is for more lenient.
Jonathan and Claire now await a call for evidence with the Department for Transport, expected in early 2024.
Commenting, Jonathan Gullis: “It was good to meet with the Lord Chancellor to discuss our campaign to introduce Sharlotte’s Law.”
The Lord Chancellor spoke so highly of Claire and our campaign to ensure that the law puts victims, like Sharlotte-Sky's family first.”
“Claire and I are committed to introducing Sharlotte’s Law and ensuring no family has to suffer like Sharlotte’s did.”
Commenting, Claire Reynolds said: “Mr Chalk seemed like a genuine person that understood the impact not being able to test the blood has on families. I really hope we can make a change so other families don’t have to go through the added torture that we did.”
“I want to thank Mr Chalk for taking the time to speak to us today.”