Police catch 43 people in North Shore drink-driving blitz

Police caught 43 people driving with excess breath alcohol during a drink-driving blitz on Auckland's North Shore during the weekend.

Police stopped 5422 vehicles during Operation Jar, which ran from 8pm on Friday to 4am on Sunday.

Forty-three were caught driving with excess breath alcohol, and another 10 elected to take blood tests to see if they would also face charges.

Several drivers returned breath tests double the legal breath alcohol limit. At least five of the drink-drivers had young children as passengers.

Police caught seven teenagers drink-driving, as well as arresting 10 people for a range of other charges including drugs, immigration warrants, dangerous driving, and disqualified driving.

Police were disappointed with the number of people they caught, Acting Inspector Gary Hill said.

However, the number of nabbed drink-drivers was down on previous years, which could mean the message was getting through, he added.

- NZPA