Advice on mitigation and solicitor

[Dave43]

Hello,

I will be detailing my situation bellow, but my questions on my current predicament are as follows:

• Will there be any way of pleading guilty and potentially having the driving ban reduced from 12 months?
• Is it worth getting a solicitor or would the duty solicitor be able to provide the exact same service and assistance?
• What would the cost of a duty solicitor be?
• Realistically what am I looking in terms of conviction?
• What would I be looking at for mitigation?

So, I put my car in for repairs at 9am and walked to town, at 11:30 (ish) had a pint of beer whilst waiting. Went for lunch at 1pm and had a bottle of beer with food. Walked back to Halfords for 3pm, they still had not done the car so I waited. Went around to Liddle to buy beer for the night. Whilst waiting at Halfords I had one more beer (stupid I know). Drove home at about 4:30pm. Opened another beer at my computer. Buy 5pm the police were there, I failed the breathalyser, arrested and taken to the police station. My 'score' on the police test was 40 so I'm being charged.
My interview was the conducted at 12:05am and I told them everything, although I forgot to tell them about the beer I opened after I got home.

The reason I want to plead guilty is because of costs involved with defence but I need to reduce any bans for driving because I live relatively remotely with a 45 minute drive to work, people are dependant on me for transport and my wife is now 4 months pregnent.

 

[SeanJoyceStephensons]

The minimum disqualification that can be imposed for a drink driving conviction is 12 months. That can be further reduced if you are given the opportunity and then successfully complete the drink driving rehabilitation course. That course can be offered by the court and if successfully completed will reduce your ban by up to 25%.

Given the circumstances of your case it may be that you have a defence of post incident consumption, also known as a 'hip-flask' defence. You are only marginally over the limit at 40µg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. If you consumed some or all of the can you opened at home after you had driven then that could be sufficient to put you over the legal limit after driving whereas at the time you may not have been. That needs exploring in more detail and the burden would be on you as the defendant to prove to the court that , were it not for that additional alcohol, you would have been under the legal limit at the time of the test.

In convicted you are looking at a ban of between 12 and 16 months. There does not appear to be anything aggravating about the offence of the face of the description and you should hopefully be banned towards the lower end of the bracket. Carefully prepared mitigation can ensure the court are directed to anything relevant to help them make a decision to impose the most lenient penalty. The cost of instructing a solicitor will vary and you will need to make enquiries directly prior to your court appearance.