The long arm of the plod.....

kowalski I'm pretty certain you can be done for riding whilst pissed.

The worst of it is, there is no prescribed blood alc level for cyclists.

Seems it rests on the "judgement" of the woodentop that stops you. And on this judgement, you could get hit with a £1000 fine.

How this would stand up in Court I'll never know.

And I hope I don't find out!

I got done a month or so ago for riding drunk.
I wasn't actually terribly pissed, although I did have a lot of booze in the system.
I'm sure they just picked me up because a) it was in the City, where the cops have bugger-all to do after about midnight and b) you can be fairly sure that there's a good chance somebody cycling in the wee hours in London has had a drink or two [well, perhaps not, but still].
They claimed I was cycling erratically, but I don't think this was true.
Anyhow, I was very co-operative etc but still (and I guess they just needed to have a certain tally of arrests etc) I was breathalysed and taken down to the nick.
As pointed out, alcohol levels are irrelevant, but still.
"For my own good" they put me in a cell for a few hours, since they had "a duty of care" etc, etc, and would have been liable if I'd got hit by a car or something walking home, apparently.
If they'd charged me it would have been a "my word v their word" thing as to whether I was drunk.
They gave me a FPN, which I only accepted on the basis that it's not something that sticks. A fifty pound fine, but not for drunk cycling but rather for "being drunk in public" which is contrary to the Licensing Act of 18-something or other.

Mat Sinclair So is the FPN something that is on record?

As I say, apparently not.
I'll be making a Data Protection Act request of the police to check that this is the case. A civil suit will result if not... :)