In need of advice for Daughter charged the morning after with reading of 40

Convicted Driver Insurance

WOODY

New Member
Dear Sir,

please can you advise on my daughters position and if there is any scope for reducing the obligatory ban length.

She was driving at approx. 11 AM and had a collision with another car that was apparently going too fast but because of the location my daughter was technically at fault . There was not much damage done to the other parties vehicle and there were no injuries fortunately.
The officer who arrived at the scene breath tested them both and my daughter blew over the limit at 50 so was arrested and taken to the station . There she was re tested fairly quickly and blew a 40 result and was charged with Drink driving. The arresting officers seemed to think that she would not be charged but a more senior officer decided that she would be.
My daughter tells me that she felt totally normal that morning and had finished drinking at 11.30 PM the night before after drinking the equivalent of 5 or 6 double vodkas over the evening.

We understand that a 12 month ban is obligatory but are wondering if there are any realistic avenues for asking for a reduced length of ban as she has two young children and has a job that is quite dependant on her being able to drive.

She would not intentionally drive over the limit and is only a casual drinker anyway. She has no previous for drink or dangerous driving offenses.

Any advice is welcome, thank you
 
The legal drink drive limit is 35ug in breath. As a matter of policy the police don't usually charge people with breath readings of below 40ug so your daughter is unfortunate in that she has just reached that level. Assuming the sample is reliable (and there is no reason in your post to suggest it isn't) and she admits driving, then she is likely to be convicted of the offence and may wish to plead guilty to avoid a trial and receive the benefit of maximum credit to reduce her punishment.

You're correct that a ban is mandatory (in the absence of special reasons - again, nothing in your post to suggest this applies here) and the minimum length of ban is 12 months. That's the shortest ban the court can impose irrespective of how persuasive her mitigation might be.

She can, however, ask the court to refer her for the drink driving rehabilitation course. This must be offered to her at the point of sentencing and she can't easily go back to court later to ask for it. If she is referred for the course and doesn't do it then she simply serves the full ban.There is no punishment for not doing it. If she successfully completes the course within the specified deadline for doing so (she will be given this at court and as this is a strict deadline it's important she observes it) then she would be entitled to apply for the return of her licence up to 25% earlier. This means she can reduce her ban to 9 months. This is the shortest length of ban she can hope for under the law.
 
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