After a minor car accident in the High Street, PC Jim Carver breathalyses an elderly man, but takes sympathy on him and allows him to leave in a taxi. The man turns out to be Hugh Alexander, a High Court judge with a renowned pro-police stance, and Carver finds himself suspected of showing bias, particularly when the other man involved in the accident threatens legal action against the Met. At the trial of a man accused of murdering a PC, PC Worrell feels marginalised as a black officer when she is asked to testify and be a character witness for the dead officer. Ch. Insp. Conway meets with Gary Fablon, and discovers that Fablon is addicted to litigation, and the accident was his fault. Carver, meanwhile, has a chance to redeem himself when Conway hears that Alexander may be drink-driving again that night.