Postponing court date advice

[Wton89]

Hello,

Hoping for some advice and guidance on a situation I've got myself into, through my own stupidity.

I have recently been charged with a drink driving offence, with a breath reading of 92. I was given the papers at the police station with a court date on. My problem is that I've had a 2 week trip to Australia planned, which was finally booked 6 months ago, and the court date is right in the middle of that two weeks.

I have already engaged a solicitor who has advised that she will proceed with a letter to the court to request postponing the court date to allow me to continue with my trip. However, with never being in this kind of situation before I'm massively worried that this will reflect very badly on me.

My questions are;

Would you recommend I cancel my trip, lose the money i've paid, and attend the given court date?
If not, typically, what are the chances of the date being postponed?

I have a clean police record, clean driving license etc so I really don't want to cause any damage to the magistrates perception of me.

Any advice would be really appreciated.
Many thanks.

 

[SeanJoyceStephensons]

Given the amount of money I'm sure you must have spent on this trip, I would give it a good try rather than simply cancel the trip.

You should produce documentary evidence of the fact the trip was booked before you were aware of your court date. In addition to asking the court to adjourn the case, you could also approach the police and request that your bail date is changed.

In either case, the court or the police will want to see some evidence that your trip was already booked.

If you are successful in changing the date then you don't need to worry about the court's perception of you and it wont harm your case.