DUI in Spain - appearance in & summons to court

Convicted Driver Insurance

duiinspain

New Member
In July 2012 I was stopped at a roadblock in Spain and breathalysed. I was alleged to register a positive breathe result of 0.84 mg/l. I was detained and released to appear in court at a later date.
I never heard anything more about the case despite having a lawyer assigned to me by the Spanish state.
I returned to Spain in May 2015 and was arrested at the airport for failing to appear in court at a date I was never aware of. I was held for a day and released to appear in court at a later date.
I have now received an email with what appears to be a summons to appear in court in Spain this June 2016.

My questions are:
1. I am resident in UK. Do I have to appear in court myself or can a local lawyer appear on my behalf?
2. Can I be summoned to court by means of an email? Must I not be sent a summons by means of registered mail or some more official means?
3. They are aware I do not speak Spanish as on all instances I required a translator. Hence, is it correct that they send the email with a subject title in Spanish, body text in Spanish and an attachment also in Spanish?

Any other advice or tips you can give?
Many thanks in advance for your time and consideration of this post. I much appreciate any advice you are able to provide.
 
In July 2012 I was stopped at a roadblock in Spain and breathalysed. I was alleged to register a positive breathe result of 0.84 mg/l. I was detained and released to appear in court at a later date.
I never heard anything more about the case despite having a lawyer assigned to me by the Spanish state.
I returned to Spain in May 2015 and was arrested at the airport for failing to appear in court at a date I was never aware of. I was held for a day and released to appear in court at a later date.
I have now received an email with what appears to be a summons to appear in court in Spain this June 2016.

My questions are:
1. I am resident in UK. Do I have to appear in court myself or can a local lawyer appear on my behalf?
2. Can I be summoned to court by means of an email? Must I not be sent a summons by means of registered mail or some more official means?
3. They are aware I do not speak Spanish as on all instances I required a translator. Hence, is it correct that they send the email with a subject title in Spanish, body text in Spanish and an attachment also in Spanish?

Any other advice or tips you can give?
Many thanks in advance for your time and consideration of this post. I much appreciate any advice you are able to provide.

The summons has effectively been served once you were charged. So there is no problem sending an email, lets put it his way; its legal, and you have been summoned.

Yes, you would have to appear in person. If you don't go they can apply for European arrest warrant and have you removed from the UK and returned to Spain to be sentenced.

They don't have to cater to your language requirements; you committed an offence in their country and you were arrested and charged. You now need to consult a Spanish UK based lawyer to assist you; or a lawyer that specialises in this kind of situation.

M
 
I'd like to provide an update on my case for anyone who might want to inform themselves.

I have been fined a large fine of several thousand euros and banned from driving in Spain for just over a year.

Best advice I can give others who may be subject to a similar situation is make sure to get a privately engaged lawyer on your defence as the state appointed lawyer is useless (mine did not even appear at the court case nor did the state appointed translator). Your own Spanish lawyer will be money well spent unless you want to end up behind bars.

Best of luck and remember when you've drunk alcohol then using a taxi is the safest, cheapest, easiest way about. It's just not worth the risk.
 
I'd like to provide an update on my case for anyone who might want to inform themselves.

I have been fined a large fine of several thousand euros and banned from driving in Spain for just over a year.

Best advice I can give others who may be subject to a similar situation is make sure to get a privately engaged lawyer on your defence as the state appointed lawyer is useless (mine did not even appear at the court case nor did the state appointed translator). Your own Spanish lawyer will be money well spent unless you want to end up behind bars.

Best of luck and remember when you've drunk alcohol then using a taxi is the safest, cheapest, easiest way about. It's just not worth the risk.
Hey there, I am living and working in Valencia since September 2019 and 3 days ago, I was drunk and I left a night club at around 5am. Then someone attacked me and punched me in my nose, it started bleeding and they were getting crowded so when they were distracted I ran away and hid between 2 garbage container. They were looking for me -still don't know the reason- so I was trying to find a way to get home safely. I tried calling a Cabify (Spanish Uber) but 2 of the drivers never showed up. Then I thought about renting a electric motorbike from the app which I use in my daily life, Acciona Mobility. To run away safe and healthy from these people to my home, I did not think about my drunkenness and I ran to the closest electric motorbike that shows on the map of the app. I started riding, then after 5-6 minutes, a police car must have got suspicious of me so they pulled me over. I tried to tell them what happened but since no one there was speaking English, they did not understand. They took me to the hospital for my nose and made me blow to the alcohol test machine. Then we went to the police station and they kept me in the jail until the lawyer and the interpreter have arrived. After that, they let me go and said that I have a trial on Tuesday morning, tomorrow morning :)

What did you do when no lawyer or translator appeared to court, did they let you go to find someone? What happened there? Do you think that I could go to jail? I am freaking out right now. I never intended to drive while I'm drunk, I had to use the moped to get away from those who attacked me.

P.S.: I don't even know my breath results, I only have attached docs. If someone could reply a bit fast, I would be grateful guys. I can not stop thinking and sleep for 2 days.
 

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