Trial set for date when driver is overseas

Convicted Driver Insurance

littleot

New Member
My son was pulled over in early July and blew over roadside. He was taken to the local police station where he also blew over marginally. He was told that he could have a blood test or urine test to confirm the results. However, they said as it was 2am he had to have the urine test as there was no doctor available to administer the blood test. Is this correct - can you ask for a blood test and it is up to the police to get a doctor?

at the time of testing he was taking ibuprofen for a strained back and roaccutene for a skin allergy. I understand that both drugs affect the liver and the ability to absorb alcohol. He also has a very lean body - super fit with less than 10% body fat.

in any event he did the urine test and on 1 August the urine test came back at 111 vs 107 limit. He attended the police station where they gave him a charge sheet and set a hearing for 16 Aug. my son said he had already booked to be overseas on 16th. The police said call the court to change the date. He called the court who said me must write a letter.

He only told us, his parents, about the problem yesterday. I am overseas on 16th as well and my wife has to be in Bournemouth then as her 86 year old mother is having hip replacement on 14th.

To further complicate matters, my son is in full time education in New York and term starts 31 August.

How do we get the case postponed until he returns to the uk for Christmas and 3 weeks after?

a criminal conviction causes all sorts of problems in the USA. Is there any way to resolve this without a criminal conviction?

is it worth getting some independent expert medical advice on the potential effect that thedrugs and his physiology had on his absorption rates it seems unusual that his reading didn't really go down an hour or more later.

Time is short to the scheduled hearing. What do we do first?

regards,
 
Firstly, your son was given the option of replacing his breath sample with blood or urine because he was only marginally over the limit. Having exercised this option it is then for the police to decide whether the replacement sample is blood or urine. In the absence of some medical reason to the contrary, the police are quite entitled to quest urine rather than blood. However, there is a very specific statutory procedure for the taking of urine which the police must follow. It may be worth instructing a drink driving solicitor to look at the documentary evidence to check the correct procedure was followed.

If you want to investigate whether his medication played a part in the alcohol level you would need an expert report. However, this is not likely to amount to a defence. At best it would be a "special reason" for not disqualifying him from driving and probably won't avoid a conviction.

It sounds like the police were unhelpful in insisting on a court date when they knew he'd be overseas. You could try approaching the custody sergeant again and ask him/her to change the date. Otherwise, you would need to contact the court and provide documentary evidence that the trip was pre-booked and ask for the case to be adjourned in his absence to another date. You will stand a better chance of succeeding with this if you ask a solicitor to help. However, in my experience courts will only adjourn for a short time. They are certainly very unlikely to adjourn it until Christmas and his best option might be to rearrange his flight for a date after the hearing on 16 August.

Drink driving cases are not something that can be resolved without a criminal prosecution. Cautions, fixed penalties and other, alternative, disposals are not available for drink driving cases as they are for other types of offences because of the mandatory disqualification which only a court can impose. The only way of avoiding a criminal conviction is by successfully defending the allegation, which would mean putting forward a defence at trial which is accepted by the court. Nothing in your post suggests he has a defence but the full picture won't be clear until the police evidence is made available.

you can speak to one of our team over the phone for more information on tel:08450020736
 
Many thanks for the comments. He was given shots with beer instead of just beer.

What sort of punishment is likely for a 111 urine reading first offence and we can provide exceptional character references? Will they consider the implication of criminal conviction on USA study and probable ongoing work. It is a question asked on every US visa application and as far as I know has no expiry.
 
The Magistrates sentencing guidelines advise a 12-16 month disqualification and a band C fine for a first time offence with your sons reading. He should also be offered the drink drive rehabilitation course which will reduce the length of disqualification by up to 25% upon completion. You are able to provide character references which can be put forward at Court in support of your son and he can mention the issues that will be caused by a criminal conviction, however this will have no bearing on whether he is convicted of the offence or not.
 
How difficult is it to challenge urine test results and all the police testing procedures? It seems to me that the only mitigation is to challenge the accuracy of a marginal urine test result.
 
Typically speaking if you are going to challenge the accuracy of a urine sample you will need to instruct an expert to review the testing procedure. Usually the expert will review all of the papers and procedure followed by both the police and the testing lab to see if they have either breached procedure or not tested the sample correctly. If this was the case then the expert would confirm this in his report and you can serve this on the prosecution.
 
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