Sanitiser sparks drink drive warning

A Taranaki school principal was left laughing after her efforts to keep the flu away led her to fail an alcohol breath test.

When Margie Sutherland, Uruti School principal, pulled over for a roadside breathtest her car reeked of alcohol, despite the fact she had not had a drop to drink.

Instead she had just rubbed a 65 per cent ethyl alcohol hand sanitiser on herself and her licence, the Taranaki Daily News reported.

"I wound down the window and the smell must've hit him in the face. The stuff smells like a big gin," Mrs Sutherland said.

After being told by the officer drink-driving was taken very seriously, she was then accused of having "had a few drinks".

"He got the machine and I just couldn't stop laughing and big red fail came up," she said.

"Imagine being drunk and disorderly on hand sanitiser. He probably thought I was trolleyed by then."

After a second "blow into" test, Mrs Sutherland was cleared and explained to the officer it must have been the sanitiser.

- NZPA