As a serving police inspector on a Home Office undergraduate scholarship I graduated from Churchill College, Cambridge in 1983. I had been an active police officer and seen many consequences of drinking and driving, including death and serious injury. At the suggestion of the master of the college I applied for a Fellowship to explore best practice for preventing drinking and driving, the consequences of which were becoming recognised as a major killer, often of young people.

I travelled to the USA and Canada spending time on a course at a university and with police departments across the USA and British Columbia. My Fellow's Report was well received in police circles and following additional work in Finland on a UN scholarship I met with the minister of transport. Many of the ideas from the Report and the work of others became best practice and I think it is fair to say that today drinking and driving is no longer acceptable.

I retired as chief superintendent with responsibilities over time for traffic and operations as well as a divisional command. Whilst a trainee at Hendon I attended Churchill's funeral as a member of the reserve based in the Strand.