FOI 60/26 Over the Limit Drug Tests
Date: 24/04/26
Enquiry Reference: 60-26
I write in connection with regards to your Freedom of Information request. Please accept my apologies for the late response due to staffing issues, below are your questions and our response.
I am now requesting an FOI from all the other English and Welsh police forces to provide similar data.
This information is contained in the Short Forensic Report the police receive from the Forensic Laboratory provider.
If your force is not able to provide this data, please let me know why.
Possibly your force is not interested or aware of the increase in Ketamine cases in Section5a convicted drivers.
To clarify, this is not the number of SFR’s issued, as that would give unclear information, this is the number of times that a blood sample sent to our Forensic Service Provider resulted in an outcome that was over the defined legal level under S5 of the Road Traffic Act
- a) Below is the summary table for Cleveland cases reported 2024 and 2025 where a Sec 5A drug was found to be exceeding the limit
|
Drug/Year |
2024 |
2025 |
|
CLE |
1133 |
939 |
|
Amphetamine S5A |
2 |
2 |
|
BZE S5A |
435 |
359 |
|
Clonazepam S5A |
1 |
|
|
Cocaine S5A |
306 |
276 |
|
Diazepam S5A |
2 |
1 |
|
Ketamine S5A |
10 |
5 |
|
MDMA S5A |
14 |
6 |
|
Methadone S5A |
1 |
|
|
Methamphetamine S5A |
4 |
|
|
Morphine S5A |
1 |
1 |
|
Oxazepam S5A |
1 |
|
|
Temazepam S5A |
2 |
6 |
|
THC S5A |
360 |
277 |
|
Total |
1133 |
939 |
Having made enquiries within the Force above is all the information we hold.
The Cleveland Police response to your request is unique and it should be noted that Police Forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures to capture and record data therefore responses from Cleveland Police should not be used as a comparison with any other force response you receive.
If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request, you have the right to request an independent internal review of your case under our review procedure. The Freedom of Information Code of Practice (see below link) states that a request for internal review should be made within 20 working days of the date on this response or 40 working days if extenuating circumstances to account for the delay can be evidenced. Public authorities are not obliged to accept internal reviews after this date.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-of-information-code-of-practice
Yours sincerely
Information Rights Decision Maker