Drink Driving Offence 79mg

Convicted Driver Insurance

skilachi

Member
Hi,

I was pulled over lastnite for drink driving. had a road side breath test and failed but there was no reading. Was taken to the police station where i had another one and read 80 and lowest was 79mg, which i was charged for.

Due to appear in court in 2wks...what is the likelihood decision i will get for 79mg? Also, is it worth getting a solicitor and what should i plead? Guilty or not guilty? Was also thinking of mentioning my drink could have been spiked in the club as defence but I didnt mention this to the police when i was arrested.

If i do get a disqualification/ban, will i need to inform my insurance company of this and will they struck me off immediately? This is my 1st offence.
 
Hi, I assume you'll be disqualified for 17-22 months for first offence. If you can prove being spiked then you might have a good case. Yeh once ban is up you will have to declare your conviction to the insurance company. I learnt the hard way myself. Drink driving isn't something I'd do again! You'll get through this mate..
 
Hi Jahamin, thanks for the reply. If I do go down with the spiked drinks, guess the case will be adjourn and might drag on for a while trying to prove it.

Is it worth getting a solicitor to represent me or there is no need as they will only repeat wot you told them to the judges.

How long were u banned for and did you get a fine with it, does the fine comes automatically with the ban? Also did you notice the insurance company immidiately or waited till the end of ur insured policy date? I still want to keep my existing insurance as it expires nxt year march and want to include a 2nd driver on my policy so that 2nd driver drive the car while I'm banned.
 
Hey skilachi, If you do go down the spiked drink route and you're found guilty they'll not be to pleased at that.. Make sure you have the evidence if you decide to do that. My solicitor was useless - there's not much he could do to be honest. What he done I could have done myself. Sorry If this Isn't what you want to hear but I'm just being honest. I was banned for 12 months and £250 fine. I wouldn't contemplate driving with alcohol on me again. It's been a nightmare but I'm just glad I didn't have an accident or anything like that. Once my ban started I canceled my insurance straight away. There was no point for me to keep it. I think that you should be able to keep your insurance and have a second driver drive the car.



 
Jahamin said:
Hey skilachi, If you do go down the spiked drink route and you're found guilty they'll not be to pleased at that.. Make sure you have the evidence if you decide to do that. My solicitor was useless - there's not much he could do to be honest. What he done I could have done myself. Sorry If this Isn't what you want to hear but I'm just being honest. I was banned for 12 months and £250 fine. I wouldn't contemplate driving with alcohol on me again. It's been a nightmare but I'm just glad I didn't have an accident or anything like that. Once my ban started I canceled my insurance straight away. There was no point for me to keep it. I think that you should be able to keep your insurance and have a second driver drive the car.
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Hi, thanks for ur reply. What did you blew and did you had any previous DD or ban in the last 10yrs? If i can get the 12months with no fine, wud be happy.

Can you please share ur experience when you got to the court for hearing and did you write a letter before ur court date?
 
Hey :)

I got a 12 month ban and fined £250 with the chance to knock off 3 months if I attended the course. I blew 53 on the breath test.
Yeh It was my first offence. (And last) Don't wanna go through that again! The court experience was pretty straight forward as in there are
guidelines they follow unless there is aggravating factors, crashing the car etc.. I hope all goes well for you :) I'm not sure what you mean about getting a letter written?

Jamie
 
Meant writing remorseful letter to the magistrate before my court date holding my hands up on what i've done and get someone to write a good character reference as well and to be read in court on that day or take it with me.
 
Oh right I see. I had a letter written from my mum's doctor stating that she needs transport for various doctors appointments etc, (my mum has several illness's) The magistrate glanced at it and never bothered reading it.
 
Jahamin said:
Oh right I see. I had a letter written from my mum's doctor stating that she needs transport for various doctors appointments etc, (my mum has several illness's) The magistrate glanced at it and never bothered reading it.
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Just got back from court. Got 20months ban + £390 fine. Offered to go on rehab for which will take 25% (5months) off.....So Day 1 of ban begins. How come the police always lie in their police report. Prosecutor read the statement from police that i was driving erratically and swerving from lane to lane, which obviously i did....samething was said to a friend years ago when he got stopped while i was in the car but luckily they got another call on their radio and went off.
 
skilachi said:
Just got back from court. Got 20months ban + £390 fine. Offered to go on rehab for which will take 25% (5months) off.....So Day 1 of ban begins. How come the police always lie in their police report. Prosecutor read the statement from police that i was driving erratically and swerving from lane to lane, which obviously i did....samething was said to a friend years ago when he got stopped while i was in the car but luckily they got another call on their radio and went off.
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You got about the right ban. The fine would have depended on your financial situation. I blew 82 and 83 and received a 20 month ban. That was last August. Only 3 months left for me as I completed the awareness course. A word of advice, I would notify your insurance company imediately. If you do not disclose your conviction to them now, then in future apply for insurance, they will ask for the date you were convicted. When they put 2 and 2 together, that you didn't disclose your conviction to achieve an extra years no claims, they won't be very impressed. It may even affect your ability to buy insurance in the future. Remember all insurance companies share information. Just think about it carefully. I cancelled my insurance and paid the cancellation fee before I even went to court. I also sold the car. I didn't want any more reprecussions from my stupidity coming back to haunt me. Now I will have a clean slate in 3 months, with a nice modern car as I have spent the past 12 months saving hard so I will be driving around in luxury when I finally do get my license back. It's amazing how much you can save when you don't have to fork out for insurance/petrol/tax/mot/servicing! Good luck with your ban, it'll no doubt be a hard time, but it'll pass quicker than you think.
 
so ashamed said:
You got about the right ban. The fine would have depended on your financial situation. I blew 82 and 83 and received a 20 month ban. That was last August. Only 3 months left for me as I completed the awareness course. A word of advice, I would notify your insurance company imediately. If you do not disclose your conviction to them now, then in future apply for insurance, they will ask for the date you were convicted. When they put 2 and 2 together, that you didn't disclose your conviction to achieve an extra years no claims, they won't be very impressed. It may even affect your ability to buy insurance in the future. Remember all insurance companies share information. Just think about it carefully. I cancelled my insurance and paid the cancellation fee before I even went to court. I also sold the car. I didn't want any more reprecussions from my stupidity coming back to haunt me. Now I will have a clean slate in 3 months, with a nice modern car as I have spent the past 12 months saving hard so I will be driving around in luxury when I finally do get my license back. It's amazing how much you can save when you don't have to fork out for insurance/petrol/tax/mot/servicing! Good luck with your ban, it'll no doubt be a hard time, but it'll pass quicker than you think.
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Wow, lucky you just 3months to go and you are back on the road again. Well to be honest, think will just let the insurance run out next year as members of family will be driving with their own insurance which allows them to drive other people's vehicle.

So i guess you should be receiving a letter/form from DVLA anytime from next month to apply for ur new license (56 days) before end of driving ban, which will take about 3wks to issue you another driver's license.....Just to warn you, you might get the license back few weeks before your ban expires in Nov, do make sure you do not drive before the ban end date as if you get stopped, you will be committing another offence of driving while ban (even though DVLA has sent you the new driver's license).

How was the rehab course? How long/days did you have to attend and was there a test at the end of it?
 
Yes only 3 months, am getting very excited now, it's been a loooong wait, walking through the winter months, which I will have to do a bit of this year again too, thankfully not all through winter like last year. And I hate buses more now than I ever had before! Slow, germ infested boxes on wheels, that occasionally break down and make you extremely late. What would take me 20 mins down the dual carriageway to see the parents at the weekend now takes an hour by bus...2 buses actually, it's awful, but I've been living like this for the past 12 months, another 3 won't kill me! I have mostly missed the freedom and independance that driving brings, I hate relying on others to do simple things. The amount of times I've thought "if only I had my license, this wouldn't be an issue". But nearly done. And don't worry, I won't be driving until the valid from date that is specified on my license (when it is returned). Should be valid from 17th Nov, as I was in court on 17th Aug. I've been told the DVLA rarely send out the reminder letters and forms, so I shall be picking up a form and having it filled in ready to be sent exactly 56 days before ;). We're not planning on buying our car until the beginning of December anyway, as then we'll have the extra cash from Novembers wages! No way will I ever risk my right to drive again, I honestly can't believe I was such a fool in the first place, theres no chance I'll be doing that again!
The awareness course was not actually as bad as I thought it was going to be. Everyone was friendly, I suppose because we were all in the same boat I didn't feel so embarrassed as I thought I would. It had it's uncomfortable moments, like when we had to stand up and tell everyone our story. No tests as such, but we had certain homeworks to do which if they weren't up to the course leaders satisfaction, we had to re-do. Such as phoning for insurance quotes to see the difference before and after conviction, another homework involved writing down what the worst case scenerio would have been in our own circumstances (ie, accident, killing someone, killing yourself, etc), another homework was to go to a pub, and drink only soft drinks, then write down your experience, how you felt, how others seemed under the influence, their reaction to you not drinking alcohol. I won't lie, alot of the time spent on course I was bored, and wished to be elsewhere. But it was worth doing for the 5 months reduction. I had to do 3 Saturdays in a row, think it was from 9.30am until 4.30am, half hour lunch, and a few 15 minute breaks. A pain in the backside, but like I said, worth it in my opinion!
 
so ashamed said:
Yes only 3 months, am getting very excited now, it's been a loooong wait, walking through the winter months, which I will have to do a bit of this year again too, thankfully not all through winter like last year. And I hate buses more now than I ever had before! Slow, germ infested boxes on wheels, that occasionally break down and make you extremely late. What would take me 20 mins down the dual carriageway to see the parents at the weekend now takes an hour by bus...2 buses actually, it's awful, but I've been living like this for the past 12 months, another 3 won't kill me! I have mostly missed the freedom and independance that driving brings, I hate relying on others to do simple things. The amount of times I've thought "if only I had my license, this wouldn't be an issue". But nearly done. And don't worry, I won't be driving until the valid from date that is specified on my license (when it is returned). Should be valid from 17th Nov, as I was in court on 17th Aug. I've been told the DVLA rarely send out the reminder letters and forms, so I shall be picking up a form and having it filled in ready to be sent exactly 56 days before ;). We're not planning on buying our car until the beginning of December anyway, as then we'll have the extra cash from Novembers wages! No way will I ever risk my right to drive again, I honestly can't believe I was such a fool in the first place, theres no chance I'll be doing that again!
The awareness course was not actually as bad as I thought it was going to be. Everyone was friendly, I suppose because we were all in the same boat I didn't feel so embarrassed as I thought I would. It had it's uncomfortable moments, like when we had to stand up and tell everyone our story. No tests as such, but we had certain homeworks to do which if they weren't up to the course leaders satisfaction, we had to re-do. Such as phoning for insurance quotes to see the difference before and after conviction, another homework involved writing down what the worst case scenerio would have been in our own circumstances (ie, accident, killing someone, killing yourself, etc), another homework was to go to a pub, and drink only soft drinks, then write down your experience, how you felt, how others seemed under the influence, their reaction to you not drinking alcohol. I won't lie, alot of the time spent on course I was bored, and wished to be elsewhere. But it was worth doing for the 5 months reduction. I had to do 3 Saturdays in a row, think it was from 9.30am until 4.30am, half hour lunch, and a few 15 minute breaks. A pain in the backside, but like I said, worth it in my opinion!
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Hi All,

Just thought I shud update you all after going to the court last month. Blew 79mg breath, got 20months ban with £390 fine (offered 25% rehab course). I was hoping they would give me like 18months but looks like i got the higher end. two magistrates (man & woman). submitted a mitigation letter and good character ref from close friend which they took time to read. Maybe i should have cried when asked if I had anything to add to the letter as I said no.

1 month has gone by now and i'm starting the rehab course on sunday for 3wks so now got 14months to go once i complete the course end of the month, which will now be 2months out of 15months done.
 
I doubt crying in court would've made a difference, I was practically crying and was shaking so much that I nearly fell out of the dock when I was dismissed because my legs were like jelly. Still got 20 months though, was hoping for 17, but what can you do? Anyway, here I am nearly 13 months through the 15 months ban, I have my D1 form filled in ready to send on the 22nd of this month...didn't think I'd get so excited about filling in a form, but I was! Excited about sending it in a few weeks too!

Good luck on your course, it'll be worth it for the reduction. And although it may seem like the end of your ban is ages away, it'll go quicker than you think! All the best ;)
 
so ashamed said:
I doubt crying in court would've made a difference, I was practically crying and was shaking so much that I nearly fell out of the dock when I was dismissed because my legs were like jelly. Still got 20 months though, was hoping for 17, but what can you do? Anyway, here I am nearly 13 months through the 15 months ban, I have my D1 form filled in ready to send on the 22nd of this month...didn't think I'd get so excited about filling in a form, but I was! Excited about sending it in a few weeks too!

Good luck on your course, it'll be worth it for the reduction. And although it may seem like the end of your ban is ages away, it'll go quicker than you think! All the best ;)
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Wow, thats great....guess you'll be back on the road come Nov, just in time for the cold winter :cool:. I'm dreading having to survive the winter. Atleast my job requires me to work from home which i've been doing for the past 2months now but it gets so boring waking up and not be able to drive somewhere and stuck at home all day. I plan on traveling around europe mostly wkends for the next 3months, so that will ease my mind off.

How many breaks do you get during the course session in a day......mine is from 10am-4pm

So did you sell your call when you got the ban last year? Have you been given any insurance quote yet?
 
skilachi said:
Just got back from court. Got 20months ban + £390 fine. Offered to go on rehab for which will take 25% (5months) off.....So Day 1 of ban begins. How come the police always lie in their police report. Prosecutor read the statement from police that i was driving erratically and swerving from lane to lane, which obviously i did....samething was said to a friend years ago when he got stopped while i was in the car but luckily they got another call on their radio and went off.
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hi there, I just got out of Liverpool crown today for a breath reading of 83, I represented myself, dresses smart and wrote a letter of apology to the magistrates. I was given a 9 months ban ( provided I complete the drink driving rehabilitation course) and £315 fine
 
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