Advice would be appreciated

Convicted Driver Insurance

Strider

New Member
Hello there,


I won't go into the details of my misery but I've been on sertraline for depression and anxiety since October last year; recently the effect of the medication has diminished and know I resort to alcohol to deal with social interactions. I drank a bottle of wine throughout the course of the day and evening with my friends (one was drinking the other not) and then I drove home but was pulled over in the early hours of the morning. I didn't realise I was being followed by a police car; I could see a car was following every lane change I made so I wasn't sure what was going on until the blue lights were flashing. I pulled over immediately.

At the roadside I had a breath reading of 110 but at the station the reading was 59 (this was within 30 minutes of being pulled over). They told me they expected it to be a lot higher based on the roadside test. Throughout the whole thing I was compliant and accepted complete fault.

I have had no previous criminal history so being pulled over and spending a few hours in a cell was quite embarrassing. I was released 4 hours after being detained, by which time my breath alcohol had reduced to 29, within the legal limit.

Basically I'm terrified what will happen at the court. I am content with being given a fine and losing my license, it will cause me huge problems personally but I only have myself to blame and understand that I should be punished. What I'm concerned about is going to prison, is this a remote posibility?

Also, I will seek some legal advice, but is a solicitor essential for the court date?

Thank you for any help/advice offered.
 
Mate - just to calm you - you are definitely, absolutely NOT going to prison. Forget that and concentrate on what is inevitable.
The lowest Police station reading is ALL that matters. Not the Roadside one. 59 is nowhere near the custody bracket. The roadside 110 is not evidence, and won’t be mentioned in court.
Definitely going to be banned for at least 12 months. Maybe more.
Will have to pay court charges, and victim surcharge totalling about £180. Probably a fine on top of that of about a weeks wages.
Will get the chance to reduce the ban by taking a 3 day course for £175

A solicitor is not essential, and won’t reduce the sentence, but I can tell you from experience, it’s the best £300 I ever spent. I was terrified in court, but my guy did everything, and all I had to say was my name, and the word “guilty”

As I keep saying to people - I am not trying to trivialise this. It WILL mess up your life. But it’s doable.

My Police Station Reading was 124. The roadside was Way more than that. 120 has a custody guideline, and 59 doesn’t
Im not in prison. I’m most of the way through a 200 hours community service, but you won’t even get that.

YOU CANNOT BE SENT TO PRISON.
 
Sound advice from DonkeyKong, with a reading of 59, in court the guidelines are 12-16 months ban so with no accident involved, 16 months is the maximum ban you will face, which canbereduced by up to 25% if you complete a Drink Drive Rehabilitation Course. The magistrates should offer it to you, but if they don’t, make sure you ask t9 be allowed to do one. The offer has to be made and accepted on the day, it cannot be offered after your case is finished. It it then optional to you if you actually do the course or just serve the full ban.
 
Thank you for your feedback guys.

i have contacted a solicitor but they recommended I just use the duty solicitor on the day. Is this a good idea? Will they provide the same service?
 
Thank you for your feedback guys.

i have contacted a solicitor but they recommended I just use the duty solicitor on the day. Is this a good idea? Will they provide the same service?

You decide mate. If you are pleading guilty anyway, you can do it yourself with the duty solicitor - he will be seeing lots of people on the day, and may be too busy to actually go into court and represent you. So you are on your own, in the dock if this happens, speaking for yourself.

I can only go on my experience. I was pleading guilty. If you are pleading not guilty, you will need some serious representation.

For £300, I got a guy who has done this 1000 times before. He met me at court. He got me in to see probation before the hearing. He guided me around the place, made sure I was where I needed to be, and spoke on my behalf for 20-odd minutes. He took all of my mitigating info, that we had discussed in the week prior, and presented it in the way it needed to be done. He was with me from start to finish (around 3 hours). He even tried to plea with the prosecution for a reduction from “Drunk Driving” to “Drunk in Charge” ... as I wasn’t actually caught driving... but they weren’t having it.

it all comes down to how confident you are. It scared the **** out of me, so the money was well spent.
 
The duty solicitor is a perfectly competent one, on a day when he / she is not being duty, they are charging for their services.
You should be able to get advice from the duty, but it can be hit and miss as to if they go into court to speak up for you. They can only claim legal aid fees if there is a substantial risk of custody, and in your case there isn’t. Therefore he will not be paid for his time in court for you. If there are several other cases that will earn him money they he will prefer to represent them than you!
 
Thank you for the advice. I opted for the duty solicitor, received a 16 month ban and £500 fine.
 
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