First Time offence for a 60 year old man

Convicted Driver Insurance

Alpha

New Member
I virtually never drink. But an incident happened where I drank too much in a party and fallen sleep. When waken I found in the room two policemen. Who told me to wake up and go home. I don't know why the police were there. I not realising the situation went and drove my car about 200 yards when the police car flashed light and arrested me and charged me under Section 5(1)(A) Road Traffic Act 1988. I was breath analysed and the reading of 51.
The Charge mentions about date and the road name but not the time of incident. Is this a mistake and if so can I benefit from it? It says 'On 20/01/2014 at Harp Road, W7 drove a motor vehicle.....' At the bottom of the charge sheet it states time and date of charge.

If I agree to charges earlier what facts I can state and will it reduce the banning period? Does this has to be in writing before the court case?
 
I'm afraid that the police are not required to specify the time at which the offence took place or the time of the charge. In any event this information is very likely to be in their statements which should be served at the first hearing. You are able to put forward mitigation to try and reduce the length of the disqualification, this can include things like your previous driving record, the impact of any disqualification and the circumstances of the offence itself. In some instances a plea of special reasons can be put forward based upon only driving a very short distance. I believe that you would struggle to put this argument forward as it is not just how far you drove that is relevant, but also how far you intended to drive. As the police pulled you over it seems that you were intending to drive some distance further and cases based on shortness of distance are unlikely to succeed with any distances over about 200 yards.

You will not have to submit a written plea of mitigation before the hearing, however you can take notes with you into the hearing to help you remember all of the relevant points.
 
Thanks for your advice.
In your site it states if 'A guilty plea at the first reasonable opportunity should result in at least a recommended one third off any sentence imposed' and also states 'The reduction awarded for an early guilty plea applies to the punitive elements of the sentence only, it has no impact on ancillary orders including the length of any disqualification to be imposed.'
Please explain does the above may result in less than a year ban? Also if I agree to 'Drink Drive rehabilitation scheme can it reduce the ban period?

Do I have to request the judge for
a. Drink Drive rehabilitation scheme?
b. To have my licence back without a driving test at the court hearing?
Will it help if I produce a character certificate from my neighbor?
How long is the likelihood of the criminal record stay on my name? Can I request the court to reduce it? As I frequently travel to USA

In my life I never had any accident and the only offence I had was speeding points about 5 years ago
 
The one third off sentence for an early guilty plea does not apply to the disqualification aspect of sentencing. However, yes the drink drive rehabilitation course does reduce the length of the disqualification by up to 25% upon completion and should be offered to all first time offenders. Because you are in the lowest bracket of the Magistrates sentencing guidelines you are facing a 1-16 month disqualification and a band C means tested fine.

The drink drive rehabilitation course should be offered to you as a first time offender but if the Magistrates forget to do this then yes you should request it from them. The Court rarely impose extended re-tests and this is normally only done for people under the new driver provisions, i.e. they have been driving for less than 2 years. Character references can help to keep the length of the disqualification down to a minimum as can mitigation presented to the Court. I'm afraid that the offence will show on your record for 11 years and this is not something that the Magistrates have control over, however I know that quite a few people on the general forum: http://www.forum.drinkdriving.org/have-you-been-caught-convicted-drink-driving/ have applied for Visa's to the US and have not had issues with them, it may we worth looking through some of the posts or asking for people's personal experience with this as it is not an area that I have dealt with.
 
Thanks again.
While serving a driving ban is it possible to drive a moped? My present licence is valid for categories B,C1,D1,B+E, C1+E, D1+E.
 
Once disqualified form driving you cannot drive any vehicle on roads, highways, public rights of way or publicly accessible car parks.
 
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