A MEMORIAL service is set to be held to celebrate the life of a Sully man that invented the electronic breathalyser.

Dr Tom Parry Jones, who died at the age of 77 last year, also set up Lion Laboratories in Barry and was later awarded an OBE for his contribution to road safety improvements.

His son Gareth Jones, as well as his sisters Diane and Sara Jones, have organised a memorial to celebrate their father at the Temple of Peace in Cardiff at 2.30pm on Tuesday, March 11.

Former Stanwell School pupil Gareth, who now lives in London, said: “My father is well known as the inventor of the electronic breathalyser and well respected for his many achievements.

“The factory that he set up, Lion Laboratories in Barry, still sells to the world and employs many local people. He is also known for the work he did for UNICEF and as president of the Welsh Centre for International Affairs which is why we are holding the memorial in the Temple of Peace.”

Gareth Jones, 51, added that after his father invented the electronic breathalyser there were several court cases where people tried to prove they didn’t work, and at one point in 1983 his father was forced to take out an injunction in a national newspaper to prevent a highly critical article being published.

“I remember the paper came out and there were lots of white gaps where the article should have been,” he said.

He added that he hoped people from throughout his father’s life would come to the memorial: “I want to invite the people that knew and worked with my father to the memorial but there are some missing areas, in particular members of staff that knew him in Barry when he was the owner/director and also the former factories which were in Moira Terrace and Pearl Street in Cardiff."