Behind Bars: Clampdown sees dozens imprisoned for drink driving

DOZENS of drivers have been sent to prison for drink driving since new regulations were introduced a year ago in Andalucia.

Since the reform of the penal code in December 2007, 793 drivers in Malaga province alone have been arrested or charged for driving over the limit.

At least a dozen of these are among 50 people imprisoned in Alhaurin de la Torre jail for between three and six months for traffic offences.

All in all, police are tightening up on drink driving, as well as speeding and non-production of a driving licence.

In the past, police have been fairly lenient with regard to traffic crimes, and the worst that could happen was that you were fined.

Since the reform of the penal code, however, they have been cracking down more heavily.

Tourists and expatriates living in Spain should beware that anyone caught with more than 0.60 milligrams of alcohol in a litre of breath are liable to receive a prison sentence of between three and six months.

The legal limit is 0.22 milligrams, as opposed to 0.25 milligrams in the UK.

Alhaurin de la Torre prison has seen a huge increase in inmates imprisoned for driving offences.

A spokesman for the guardia civil said: “In the past, drivers who knocked down or caused deaths when over the alcohol limit, were not incarcerated. This was intolerable.

“Now, if drivers do not heed the law because of a sense of civil responsibility, maybe the threat of a period behind bars will have an effect.”