Help with UK police

[BrokenfoREVer]

Okay...the title sound worse than it actually is.

Basically I'm looking for advice. FOB's father is an alcoholic & recently was arrested & prosecuted for drink driving (I think, either that or drunk in charge of a vehicle)

He was put on probation/parole (FOB wasn't clear) & placed on tag for 2 weeks. His court date was the 3rd of october, his tag was put on 1st of november. In the time between he continued to drink & had the police called on him again by FOB. I believe he was taken to the police station & released without charge.

He went off to the other end of the country. while drunk & was picked up by local police who took him to the local hospital as he'd fallen over or something.

Now, his tag came off this week & he's straight back to drinking, now he can go out at night again. Yesterday (sunday) he caused a lot of trouble at FOB's house, & FOB's mother threw him out. He stayed outside the house, shouting & growling & generally causing a scene. FOB's mother calls the police again.

Now here's where I'm confused. According to FOB, the police came, & his dad was laying on the ground refusing to get up. So the police called for back up. Cue riot van arriving & FOB's father being physically picked up & put in the car/van.... & taken to hospital??? I'm told the police officer informed FOB the custody sargent would not accept him 'in that state' & he was being taken to hospital to be watched by 2 police officers until he sobered up.

This morning (monday) FOB's father has called his mother from the hospital to ask if he can come home. No mention of the police or anything.

So here is where I'm confused & asking for advice. Why would the police take him to hospital instead of the police station to sober up? I thought you were put in a cell until you were in a fit state to be dealt with if you'd be arrested?

Is FOB lying to me about having his dad arrested to look better (he's worried about the impact his dad will have on me letting our son go to there house) This is a 69 yr old man we're talking about, does that have any impact? Ofc, I might be getting half a tale so FOB looks better too, but he's always been honest about stuff like this.

So, can anyone shed any light or help me? Thanks

ETA: FOB's father wasn't hurt or anything like that, just causing a scene, being threatening, disturbing the peace, stuff like that

 

[tallybee]

Sounds a bit strange. I wouldn't expect the police to take someone to hospital, they'd have to be pretty seriously hurt to be taken anywhere other than the cells

I don't really know much about the system though
xx

 

[Harveysmum369]

The police would only take someone to hospital if there was a health issue,they would keep a police officer there with them and once they had 'recovered' would arrest them in the normal way.xx

 

[Blah11]

They quite often do this. Pain in the neck for a&e staff and a total waste of resources. Makes me quite angry tbh. Hospital is for the sick, not the drunk.

 

[Eternal]

They quite often do this. Pain in the neck for a&e staff and a total waste of resources. Makes me quite angry tbh. Hospital is for the sick, not the drunk.

Wss

They can give fluids to sober people up quicker plus it takes the responsibility off the police incase he choked on his own vomit or something. It's not right as it adds stress to an already over stretched system. But that is what happens.

 

[leahsbabybump]

my OH was once spiked in town and was paraletic with what evaer it was hed been given so low and behold he was causing a scene in town he got arrested and took to station not hospital and he was in a bad way could hardly walk :-/
my x was an alcoholic and was suicidal (i didnt know at the time) he got arrested any way when he was hammered they took him to the mental health ward in hosp as he was a known suicidal person they couldnt risk taking him to the cells in case he has/would commit suicide
sooo i think it just depends on the circumstances as to what they would do with drunk people iykwim

 

[aliss]

Hi hun, I'm not in the UK but I worked for the police in Canada.

Sometimes when drunks, particularly alcoholics (like your FOB's father clearly is) are taken to the hospital because their BAC levels can be very high and can be dangerous when in custody. When someone is brought into a 'drunk' tank, they are basically monitorered by one civilian guard (for all the drunks, 20+) and sometimes people have died in custody because the guard wasn't trained beyond CPR and didn't see them slip into comas.

Another possibility is that during the ranting & raving, he made some sort of threat against himself (ie I will kill myself) and that means he needs to be taken for an evaluation by a doctor before being cleared for release.

His age certainly matters too - he may be in such a state that he needs to be strapped down to a bed to prevent him from injuring himself and those aren't housed in police station cells, only prisons. A drunk tank literally has a simple foam mat and that's it.