drink driving offence committed

[gerry000]

Hi, I have just been stopped for drink driving, I had been to a funeral that day and offered to drive back as my partner wasn't in a good place. I had a few at lunchtime and purposefully waited until as late as possible to drive back which was about 11pm, at this point I thought I would be ok to drive. We were stopped just as arrived in Bristol at around 2.30am for not indicating. I showed 58mg in the breath test and am told I should lose my license?? If I do I will lose my job, my flat and everything I own so I am extremely worried now. I know I have made a very silly mistake but it seems extremely harsh to lose everything on a poor call of judgment?? I want to write a letter of mitigation and an early guilty plea but am unsure how to go about it?? I have just got settled after years of unrest on leaving the army, I have finally got all debts in hand and settled with my partner in a nice little flat so want to know what my options are and if it is even possible to save my license?? I also was told I was not insured on the car but we thought I would be as it's my partner's car and she is fully comp and I am also insured on a work vehicle fully comp, will this affect the outcome even more?

 

[SeanJoyceStephensons]

Both drink driving and driving without insurance are strict liability offences. This means that you do not need to deliberately set out to commit the offences in order to be convicted. You do not even need to know that there is a potential that you could be committing an offence in order to be convicted. You do appear to have strong mitigation but it would only ever serve to help minimise the penalty.

With respect to the driving without insurance allegation you should be aware that not all fully comprehensive insurance policies allow the policy holder to drive other vehicles. You should check that straight away.

The drink driving allegation is the more serious of the two offences given that it means you will automatically be banned upon entering a guilty plea. A reading of 58µg will mean that you will be sentenced in the lowest sentencing bracket and will face a ban of between 12 and 16 months together with a fine. The reading produced, together with the aggravation of the no insurance offence, will likely see your penalty be towards the higher end of the sentencing bracket - so, closer to 16 months. You should be given the chance of completing a drink driving rehabilitation course which will reduce the ban by as much as 25%.

It is always worth speaking with a specialist solicitor to discuss the potential of representation to try and minimise any penalty and even discuss any potential defences.

 

[gerry000]

Thank you for your reply, I will seek help with my case.