From the moment the blue flashing lights appear in my rear view mirror, it feels as though everything is in slow motion.

I pull over and a police officer approaches and asks me to get out of my car and accompany him to the police vehicle. Sitting on the back seat, I watch him tell me I’m under suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. Panic starts to rise inside me.

The officer, PC Steven Suggitt, asks me to blow into a breathalyser. He tells me the reading is positive and I’m over the legal limit.

Before I know it I’m being arrested and he’s placing handcuffs on me. In a daze, I’m led out of the car and into Trafalgar House police station.

I’m taken to a waiting area, past police officers and men in handcuffs. Shaken and ashamed, I can’t look anyone in the eye.

A desk sergeant is asking me if I want to see a solicitor, or tell someone I’m at the police station. I shake my head, barely able to speak. He asks for general details about my physical and mental health, any medication I’m on, any drugs or alcohol dependencies and if I’d drunk alcohol prior to being arrested. I tell him I’d had some wine the previous evening.

After I’ve removed my jewellery and handed over my bag, a female officer searches me. She makes me take off my boots and socks then tells me to run my fingers vigorously through my hair. I’m told I must wear a paper top, as my top has a tie belt on it. With a room full of people watching, I feel intimidated and humiliated. It hits me that I’m in custody and there’s nothing I can do about it.

I’m given another breath test at a machine which provides an evidential read-out. I blow hard into a tube twice and my two readings are 58 and 60 micrograms of alcohol per 100 milliletres of breath, nearly double the legal limit of 35 micrograms. Anyone with a reading of between 40 and 50 is offered the statutory option of a blood or urine test.

Back at the custody desk, I’m charged. I’m given a copy of the charge notice and told I’ll appear before magistrates. A print-out of my breath test result will go to court.

Because it’s my first arrest, my photograph is taken and a DNA swab is taken from my mouth. I place my fingers, thumbs and hands onto a computer which copies my fingerprints and palmprints, then I’m led into a cell.

Charged with drink driving, I can’t be released until I’m no longer over the limit. My reading would have to be under 35 before a release was considered. So, under Section 10 of the Road Traffic Act, I’m locked in a cell. Sitting on a hard bench partly covered by a thin mattress, I feel like crying. Locked up and alone, reality hits me; I’ve been charged with drink driving, I have a court date and I’m facing a 16-month driving ban.

After leaving the cell I’m shown into a room where Jade McPhiliney, co-ordinator for Bradford Alcohol Arrest Referral, goes through a test with me, identifying alcohol problems. I’m asked questions such as how often I drink, how often I’ve failed to do what’s expected of me because of drinking, and whether I or anyone else has been injured as a result of my drinking. I’m referred for a further assessment with Jade, and asked to keep a drink diary.

What I went through was a simulated incident, to highlight Alcohol Awareness Week. PC Suggitt had given me mouthwash to swill around my mouth before I was breathalysed, as mouthwash has enough alcohol content to show up on a breath test reading. But from the moment I pulled my car over right through to the alcohol use assessment, the procedure I experienced was the same as it would be for real.

"Once people are here, the potential knock-on effects of a drink driving charge - losing their licence, job, home, family - hits them hard," says PC Suggitt, of Bradford South Roads Policing Team. "People feel their lives spiralling out of control."

He says the manner of driving is one of the biggest indicators of drink driving.

"Usually it’s speeding, but it can also be driving excessively slowly. No matter how much you think you’re in control, your reaction times are a lot slower after drinking. People can be concentrating so hard on driving safely they’re not being as observant about other road users," he says.

"If caught, you face a minimum 12-month ban. If a repeat offender, you’re looking at prison."

When interviewed at the custody desk, I’d made up a scenario of drinking too much the previous evening. Jade says it’s often the case that people are still over the limit the morning after drinking.

"You can’t sober yourself up," she says. "Your liver processes a unit of alcohol an hour. No amount of sleep, coffee or fry-ups can alter that.

"Often people don’t realise they have a problem with drinking until they sit down with us and discuss it. We look at the whole lifestyle, not just the drinking."

Although my ‘arrest’ wasn’t real it was a harrowing experience I never want to go through again. Drinking and driving really isn’t worth the risk.