Gutted

Convicted Driver Insurance

J3r3myW3b

Member
I got pulled over new years morning. After being asleep at the mother in laws i woke up to my partner and her family still drinking, which wound me up we started argueing, so out of the spur of the moment i decided to drive home feeling ok as i had been to sleep.I got a mile down the road and was pulled, the police pulled me thinking my van was stolen as there has been alot of van thefts in the area i was in.They smelt alcohol and wanted to do a test, I blew two tests in the back of the car which failed so they took me to the station and i blew 68 and 73. I am self employed and im the sole earner at home as my partner is trainig, its going to be a nightmare to lose my licence. i wont be able to price work or even get my tools to work never mind do the jobs. Gutted, never been in bother with the police before. Its my first offence.

Has any body got any good advice that will help please, any thoughts appreciated.
 
J3r3myW3b said:
I got pulled over new years morning. After being asleep at the mother in laws i woke up to my partner and her family still drinking, which wound me up we started argueing, so out of the spur of the moment i decided to drive home feeling ok as i had been to sleep.I got a mile down the road and was pulled, the police pulled me thinking my van was stolen as there has been alot of van thefts in the area i was in.They smelt alcohol and wanted to do a test, I blew two tests in the back of the car which failed so they took me to the station and i blew 68 and 73. I am self employed and im the sole earner at home as my partner is trainig, its going to be a nightmare to lose my licence. i wont be able to price work or even get my tools to work never mind do the jobs. Gutted, never been in bother with the police before. Its my first offence.

Has any body got any good advice that will help please, any thoughts appreciated.
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Hi,

You will be charged with the lower reading of 68 which has a sentencing guideline of between 17 - 22 months im afraid plus a band C fine which is 125% - 175% of relevant weekly income. Although this is a guideline it would be unusual for you to get less than a 17 month ban.

My advice as always when attending Court is to appear polite, contrite, suited and booted. You would be surprised how many people turn up in a jeans and a t shirt. Simply appearing well dressed will make a difference as it shows you are taking the matter seriously and are being respectful to the Court. As daunting as it may be I would suggest you address the Magistrates personally, explaining how a disqualification will affect others rather than yourself and expressing genuine remorse for your utter stupidity (I dont mean any offence saying that, that is what they will want to hear), also do not make any excuses what so ever for why you drove over the limit, something like "Im really sorry but......" would not go down well, you need to suck it up and take full responsibility. Make it very clear this is your first ever offence and most definitely the last. You have learned your lesson the hard way by appearing before them and are embarrassed and ashamed etc also apologise for wasting the Courts time for your moment of utter madness.

You can prepare this short statement beforehand and read it from the dock after the Prosecution has made their case, which for a guilty plea will be simply relaying the circumstances and facts of your arrest including the level of alcohol.

I wouldnt mention any arguing, just keep it as a simple stupid decision to drive after drinking. I would however, mention that you had been asleep so were not actively drinking.

While you may be waiting for some time outside the Court room once in, it shouldnt take more than 10 - 15 minutes for the ordeal to be over.
 
Thank you for your reply,

Do i write a letter to the magistrates or just read it out in the dock.
I will be doing my best efforts to try show them of my stupidity, Just gutted its not just the work and paying the bill, we were supposed to be starting ivf but wont be able to travel the long distances to the hospital now as my partner doesn't drive.

Also if i carnt work i wouldn't be able to pay a fine what else would the do ?
 
J3r3myW3b said:
Thank you for your reply,

Do i write a letter to the magistrates or just read it out in the dock.
I will be doing my best efforts to try show them of my stupidity, Just gutted its not just the work and paying the bill, we were supposed to be starting ivf but wont be able to travel the long distances to the hospital now as my partner doesn't drive.

Also if i carnt work i wouldn't be able to pay a fine what else would the do ?
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No problem, you are very welcome.

As you will be appearing before them you can write a statement to read out if you feel confident to do so. If you instruct a Solicitor he/she can read it out on your behalf.

You could put it all into a letter that can be passed via the Court Clerk to the Magistrates but as you are actually there it will be much better if you read it out yourself. The Magistrates should however have no problem if you were to say "I have a letter that I would like you to kindly read on my behalf" but equally they may insist to hear from you verbally.

What you can do, is get your partner to write a short letter detailing the effect a disqualification will have on her specifically regarding the IVF treatment. This can be passed to the Magistrates via the court Clerk after you have finished speaking.

I also forgot to mention that you can ask to be referred to the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course which once completed, can reduce any disqualification by upto 25%.

You will be asked to fill out a 'means tested Court fines' form before you go into Court. You must fill this out honestly at the time, although, you can explain in your statement that a disqualification will mean your immediate loss of work as you work self employed and you would be grateful if the Magistrates could take that into account when calculating any fine.

You will also have the option of paying a fine in installments, I think £5 weekly is the minimum (I may be wrong but its around that figure)
 
J3r3myW3b said:
Thank you for your advice
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No problem at all. With the absence of any 'special reasons' or strong mitigation to challenge a charge of drink driving it really is a case of trying to limit that disqualification to the lower level by what you say in Court. A personal statement and/or letter may or may not have an impact on sentencing but its the best you can do so always worth the effort.

If you need any further advice do not hesitate to ask, if I cant help others on this forum will be able too.
 
J3r3myW3b said:
what is strong mitigation ?
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Strong mitigation would be anything that a Solicitor can argue in your favour to reduce the length of a disqualification as much as possible. It does not include the effect a disqualification may have on you, or the potential loss of a job. Pretty much an expansion of the 'special reasons' so perhaps only a very short distance driven like just out of a driveway could be argued by a Solicitor to reduce the length of a ban.

'Special reasons' can be a way not to endorse or disqualify but are very limited in a drink driving case to:


  • Very short distance driven (moving car a few yards to safety)
  • Driving due to an emergency
  • A drivers drink being spiked without their knowledge

These would have to be argued in Court by a specialist Solicitor along with expert witnesses and are notoriously complicated.

A simple stop and failure as in your case does not qualify so sorry if I gave you any hope that there may be a way around the charge. Unfortunately, with what you have said there is not.

ONLY a Solicitor should present any mitigation in Court. If you do instruct a Solicitor they will obviously speak on your behalf and as favorably as they can to try and reduce the length of ban as much as possible. Although the sentencing guidelines are just that the Magistrates often do adhere to them. If you can afford representation the advice is always to use one, whether in reality they can reduce a ban is never a certainty. Often in an open and shut case (such as yours) some prefer to save the money used on a Solicitor to pay for the fine.
 
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