On January 25, Francisco José Infantes Domínguez, a school bus driver, was stopped by a Guardia Civil control for routine testing for alcohol or drugs. He tested positive for cannabis.
It was around eight in the morning. He had just dropped off students at a school in Esporles. He hadn't been concerned by being stopped, as he knew he hadn't taken anything. He couldn't believe the positive test. The Guardia Civil officers assured him that the result would have to be confirmed by a subsequent saliva test, which gives a more accurate result. "They told me that it could have been some medication. I had had a bad stomach for a month and I was taking medicine for this."
His company put him on leave for four days but organised a complete blood and urine analysis. The results of this came through the following Tuesday. Negative. He was immediately allowed back to work, but on a different school route. He had endured all manner of demands and insults, mainly from parents - he should be sent to prison; he was crazy; he was on drugs.
Francisco knew that it would take some time for the saliva results to be known. This being the case, there was the deadline for prompt payment of the fine of 1,000 euros. He went to Trafico on Tuesday this week, intending to pay half the fine and not risk the whole amount. But he didn't need to pay anything. The official checked. The saliva results had already been recorded. All negative.
He is 42 and has been driving coaches and trucks for the past seventeen years. He had never had a problem until that morning last month. He appreciates how he was treated by the Guardia Civil. It was the officers who told him to be calm, that there would be the other test. But it has been a difficult time for his family and for himself, accused - as he was - of being some sort of drug addict who had endangered the lives of schoolchildren.