blew 80 first time offence

[peanut14]

On the 6/4/2016 I was out with my granddad who was down visiting, we always go for dinner & a couple of pints when he visits. I had had 2.5 pints when my GF called crying, ( I hadn't eaten at this point) without thinking I got in the car & went & picked her up. We had a row & mid row I pulled over & parked, Neighbours called police because of the row. Police arrived & breathalysed me. I blew 80 so was arrested & taken station, I blew 80 again twice. Was interviewed the next day court on 26/4.
I have been driving 4 years never been in trouble with police, I have for the last 4 months worked for a company based 30 miles away & drive for them, I enjoy my job immensely & am doing well they are looking to promote me.
I am beyond remorseful of what's happened & am prepared to do what I can to prove this & in hope for a more lenient ban? My employers been great & offered to hold my job open for 6 months.
I am happy & keen to repent & would enrol on the rehabilitation course & any community service in hope of a lighter more lenient ban purely for employment. If I loose my job I wont be able to afford the fees, fines or course. My employer has offered to write a character reference & outline what they are offering in respect of my job. I was advised by a solicitor they could represent me at the cost of £4800 & plead not guilty & argue faulty equipment! I however am not convinced Id like to own my punishment I just couldn't bare to receive a 12+ ban.

Any advice greatly appreciated in advance

 

[SeanJoyceStephensons]

A first offence with a reading of 80 in breath places you at the higher end of the second bracket of the Magistrates sentencing guidelines. Your bracket advises the imposition of a 17-22 month disqualification and a Band C fine which would be calculated upon your financial circumstances. You are also likely to be offered the drink drive rehabilitation course which would reduce the length of disqualification by up to 25% upon completion. Therefore, even if the Court sentence you at the lowest end of the bracket and give you the full 25% reduction for completing the course, you will still be disqualified for approximately 13 months.

Your mitigation would be useful in terms of keeping your disqualification down to the lowest end of the above bracket. However even if your reading was only 40 in breath, the lowest the Court could offer would be a 12 month disqualification reduced to 9 months after the course. With your reading being more than double the limit there is a virtual certainty that they would not offer you the minimum disqualification.

I suspect the reason you have been advised to plead not guilty is because of the discrepancy between the amount of alcohol you have consumed and your breath readings. In my experience it would be impossible for 2.5 pints of beer to give a reading of 80 on the breathalyser. To clarify, whilst not eating can affect a person's reading, it does so by affecting the speed with which the alcohol is absorbed into a person's bloodstream and then broken down. I would not expect 2.5 pints of alcohol to give more than an absolute maximum of around 50 in breath. Therefore if you are certain that you have only consumed 2.5 pints it would be worth exploring any potential issues regarding the accuracy of the breathalyser.

If this is something that you would like to discuss further you are welcome to call my department on 0333 999 7158.