charged with drink driving when pulled over

[gggggg]

What had happened was I had 4-5 ish beers over a couple hours i thought i was fine to drive but hadn't been eating much so was a little bit more affected. I was driving home with a friend, windscreen wipers ran out of water so i pulled over at the side of the road to fill them up with a bottle of water (car still running) then while trying to find the car bonnet release a police car pulls up driving opposite direction asks me if im alright i just said i was filling up my windscreen wipers he got out helped me then asked if id had anything to drink was breathalysed etc and blew over. i was charged with driving a motor vehicle when drunk or something. When in the back of the police car he asked me where I was coming from and where I was going so i kind of admitted to driving however the police car hadn't actually seen me driving since itd been a couple minutes since we'd pulled over the road is in the middle of nowhere so i guess it's obvious someone had to of drove there but does it have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that i drove the car and not my friend etc like if i said we were swapping drivers or something. What are my options here i obviously dont think id be able to get nothing here but how hard would it be with a good lawyer to get the charge changed to just incharge of a vehicle since it has a lower time spent which is what im really concerned(though i don't understand much about it) about since it will affect jobs that do background checks and travel (i might have to cancel a trip). Also im not concerned about an actual driving ban is it possible to kind of swap a longer driving ban for a shorter time spent or something along those lines. thanks

 

[SeanJoyceStephensons]

Given that you were driving, to say anything to the contrary that is not true would put you in serious difficulty with the court. If you deliberately mislead the court in this way it could give rise to a prison sentence being imposed. In any event, you have admitted to driving and that admission can be relied upon.

There are potentially ways to defend the matter on what is called technical basis and I would recommend speaking with a specialist should this be an avenue you wish to explore. If convicted then a ban will be imposed for a minimum 12 month period. What accompanies a ban will largely be determined by the reading produced. This offence, depending on the reading, can be serious enough to give rise to custody on its own. If your reading in breath is less than 120 µg of alcohol per 100ml of breath then custody is not an automatic consideration. It is likely that a fine or community order will be imposed in those circumstances; alongside a ban. I would suggest that you obtain legal advice form a specialist before attending court.