A judge has dismissed an application to have England rugby star Danny Cipriani’s drink-driving trial thrown out.
The 28-year-old rugby star is accused of being so drunk his eyes were “glazed”, could not stand straight and was slurring his words after he crashed his Mercedes into a taxi in the early hours of June 1 last year.
The court previously heard Cipriani was breathalysed on Imperial Road, Fulham, following the crash and the reading appeared to show he had 67 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath - twice the drink-drive limit.
Philip Lucas, mitigating, previously argued in court that the breathalyser test machine used by Sergeant Marc Pullen had not been calibrated properly.
Prosecutor Katie Weiss contested the application, insistting the court had enough evidence the machine was working properly to continue the case.
But senior district judge Howard Riddle has ruled that Cipriani has a case to answer to.
In his ruling, Judge Riddle said Sgt Pullen told the court in his evidence that the machine "calibrated regularly".
Judge Riddle said he was "sure" that Sgt Pullen had told him "twice" that the machine was working correctly.
The judge said: "In this case Sgt Pullen told me that the breath testing machine was operating correctly.
"That is sufficient to provide a case to answer."
Cipriani, who has 14 caps for England, has pleaded not guilty to drink-driving.
He was bailed until the next hearing which was set for May 26.
Additional reporting by Press Association.
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