Plan B Forum

Fury at claim drivers taking product can pass after drinking FIVE pints





The pills have been withdrawn in the US but are legally on sale here, where 280 people die on average each year as a result of drink-driving.

A legal pill which could help drink-drivers pass breath tests has gone on sale in the UK.
Police and road safety campaigners reacted angrily after it emerged the controversial product – already banned in the US – is being sold online.

The pill, called Alcopal costs £20 for a pack of 20, is said to neutralise alcohol in breath samples.

Supplier Arthur Kibble claims a motorist on the limit can reduce their booze reading to almost zero.

If his claims are correct, it could mean a driver who had drunk five pints could still be found to be under the limit.

Birmingham businessman Mr Kibble, who admitted he had been caught drink-driving in 2002, bragged on his website about Alcopal “making all the difference” if a motorist is breathalysed.

He said: “The product is for blokes like me who do go down to the pub and have more than just one pint.

"You could lose your license, your job and your home all for the sake of being 1% over the limit.”

He added: “I am not advocating that motorists get blind drunk and then try to drive.

“And I must stress that these tablets do nothing to improve the performance of a driver who has been drinking.”

But Kevin Clinton, from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: “It’s dangerous and stupid and may encourage people to drink and drive in the belief they can get away with it.”

Police warned drink-drivers using the pills would not get away with it.

Chief Insp Chris Edwards, of West Midlands Police, said: “If you’re driving while over the limit, we will catch you.”

Alcopal, manufactured in India, is said to lower the absorption of alcohol into the blood, so less is expelled from the lungs and breath tests do not give a true reading.

The active ingredient simethicone is commonly used to treat digestive discomfort.

The pills have been withdrawn in the US but are legally on sale here, where 280 people die on average each year as a result of drink-driving.

Alcopal: Sold By Dickheads, FOR Dickheads
August 28th, 2012 | Author: DOAADI
This came through on the newsfeeds, and I’m sure a lot of people have read about it in the newspapers today.

The story deals with Alcopal tablets, an internet “medicine” which can make a breathalyser reading read 9 times lower than it should do. In typical fashion, the Mail’s hacks demonstrate a total lack of any academic skill and write:

The pills, which are taken before and after a drinking session, are said to prevent alcohol being absorbed through the stomach and into the bloodstream.

[Kibble said]… “Because it prevents the uptake of alcohol and gives some protection to your liver and kidneys you’re more in control.”

When I read this, my first thoughts were:

how does it work?
what’s the active ingredient?
None of this occurred to the Mail’s amateur staff, though. So when I looked up the same story in The Mirror, I got a bit more information:

The pill, called Alcopal costs £20 for a pack of 20, is said to neutralise alcohol in breath samples.

Birmingham businessman Mr Kibble, who admitted he had been caught drink-driving in 2002, bragged on his website about Alcopal “making all the difference” if a motorist is breathalysed…

“And I must stress that these tablets do nothing to improve the performance of a driver who has been drinking.”

I’m not sure where the Mail got its own information from, but it sure ain’t the same as what the Mirror said – and both purport to be quoting the idiot who sells the tablets (who looks like he knocks a few back anyway).

While we’re on the Mirror story, note the moron, Karel Reil, in the comments. He thinks it’s a good idea.

In the Mail story, Kibble is quoted as saying his lawyers have checked them and they’re not illegal. Well, it’s not illegal to harvest Unicorn horns, either – but I’m pretty certain it would become so if Unicorns actually existed. Kibble is just on borrowed time, since he will be directly responsible for the death of the first person killed by any piss artist who uses these things and then drives.

The active ingredient is called Simethicone. It is an antifoaming agent used to suppress gas in the stomach. It’s an ingredient in Alka-Seltzer and other antacid products. It also comes in some hair conditioners as a glossing agent.

It’s worth bearing in mind that anything which prevents absorption of substances through the stomach or intestinal walls can also do the same thing with other medicines. Some antibiotics specifically forbid taking any antacid product during treatment as absorption is affected.

At £1 per tablet, and supplied in a tiny plastic container, I suspect that you’d need a hell of a lot of these to absorb the alcohol in a gallon of beer. And that’s even assuming it works as well as Kibble suggests. So it’s highly likely that the effect is just a masking one to fool the breath testing machine.
Let’s face facts. If you really could drink a vat of beer, take a tablet, and come up stone cold sober, someone much bigger than Kibble would have jumped on it a long time ago.

But Kibble has got a load of free advertising to help him on his way…

Disclaimer: The term “dickhead” is a valid description for anyone who seeks to bypass the law in some way without making sure it is safe to do so. So in this case, someone selling a product which fools the breathalyser whilst leaving the drinker pissed in order to drive a car without being pulled can legitimately be labelled a “dickhead”. Similarly, someone who buys such products in order to fool the breathalyser, whilst knowing full well that they’re pissed can also legitimately be labelled a “dickhead”.


Diary of a Driving Instructor

loCAtek wrote:So, you could [possibly] pass a breathalyser, but you'd still be driving impared

Gob wrote:Mr Kibble needs fucking over with a hammer.