My story so far and a couple of questions

Convicted Driver Insurance

Jamie20

New Member
I expect this is going to be a long thread. If you could read it all and give me any advice at all i would be really grateful, I always think they make pretty interesting reading anyway haha. Cheers in advance.

Ok so the other night I was arrested at about 3:30 am for drunk driving.
Earlier on that evening (around 8:30-10:30) I had been round my friends house having a chinese and a few beers and a bit of wine catching up after we got back from uni, nothing messy, no strong spirits. Anyway I left at 10:30 to walk back up the road to my house as someone was dropping something off for me to take to my parents for Christmas. They left at around midnight and I went to sleep having drunk another glass of wine when I got in.

At around 3 my ex called me walking home from a club with one of her girlfriends and was worried they were being followed, and a couple of other bits and pieces (nothing innapropriate!). As we are still on good terms I went to wait at the beginning of the long unlit road she would have to walk up to meet her and walk it with her to make sure she got home safely. What I failed to remember is I might still have alcohol in my system.

Anyway about 3/4 mile into the 2 mile drive I was stopped by police, breathalised by the roadside (in my pjs i might add), failed it and was taken to the station where I blew about 63 on the machine, at this point about 4 am. Spent the rest of the night in the cells next to a load of people who sounded like they should be in the looney bin.

I am really pissed off at myself for letting this happen in the first place. I had been asleep for 3 hours and didn't feel drunk at all before this happened. I've never been pulled over for anything before and Ive never done anything to be on the wrong side of the law before either but I've already learnt from this and im not planning to repeat it.

This is where my questions start.

Obviously, I was over the limit and this is an "absolute offence", basically there is no realistic way I can appeal it and to be fair I wouldnt anyway because its just an inconvinience for the court.

1) with no realistic option of getting off the hook, is there any point hiring a solicitor. I am a student, no way in hell my parents would pay for it as they are pretty god damn angry right now, and either way im going to pleas guilty. Im a pretty confident guy and although ill probably be bricking it in front of magistrates, I was wondering if they might respect me more for going it alone etc.
2) Do i just bring character references with me? Also, as a 20 year old who should I obtain them from? I don't have any staff at uni who I come into regular contact with (for some reason, every other department seems to)
3) Mitigating: should I mention i had been asleep beforehand, the situation of my girlfriend being followed, being polite and co-operative with the police throughout the entire process etc
4) because I've only held my license for 17 months, will I have to retake my driving test after the inevitable ban? For me this would be more of a pain than the actual ban itself as I dont use my car too much at uni and could probably get by without it at home despite the fact I live on my own.

Sorry for the ridiculous length but any help is much appreciated plus anything you might have missed. Obviously im pretty nervous and just wanted to get it all off my chest as well.

thanks

edit:not actually as long as it looks when you're writing it :)
 
There's no point in getting a solicitor because one couldn't prevent you getting a ban. There's a calculator on this site that shows what ban you can expect based on your reading. I don't know what the situation is for someone who's had a licence for the short length of time you have.
When you go to Court you'll be offered the chance to see the duty solicitor and they can give you some guidance on what to expect. It's a free service so worth having a chat with him/her.
Nothing will alter the fact there's a mandatory ban of minimum 12 months but it's worth saying that you regret what you did and if you want to explain the circumstances that might mean the Magistrates offer you a drink/drive course, which will reduce your ban by a quarter once you've done it.
Good luck.
 
Cheers, that's what I thought as well, no point in wasting that money when at the end of the day I'll be banned. Atm I guess im looking at around a 17-22 month sentence but I've seen people posting on other threads with similar readings to mine if not higher and getting off with less. Just praying for the best really, already started to make plans for life without my car :(
 
Think you will probably get between a year and 18 months ban. Wont have to re sit test . Dont drink drive before appearance is a good idea
 
believe me i wont be drinking before so much as getting a piggy back from a friend from now on!
and thank you. i really hope you're correct about not having to resit my test simply out of the pure inconvenience
 
thats good, does anyone have any answers to my other questions? Namely who should i get a character reference from? im guessing friends and family aren't a particularly reasonable choice. I was thinking of trying to get hold of the police woman who took me back to my car the morning after because I actually had quite a decent chat with her and she said i was the most pleasant person she'd ever seen in there and knew it was just a stupid mistake. Policemen who took me in said practically the same thing as well. Any ideas who else I could ask?
 
Hi there,

If I were you I'd get a reference from your doctor. Just in case they try going down the alcohol abuse route.
 
I could do, thing is i only just re-registered with my surgery after they bungled some of my records. Obviously I'm not an alcoholic and have never had anything near dependency to anything but I am a student and thus drink a bit more than the average joe but im by no means an alchoholic. Could it do more harm than good?
 
No worries, I always think of the worst case. They could go down the student drinking bit. But honestly they just work to the standard ban so doubt you would even need a reference. If your worried though speak to a solicitor (usually free at first) and they can advise you what is likely to happen.

Good luck it will work out in the end.
 
Hi Jamie, Sorry to hear of the trouble but to be realistic you were caught drink driving and will appear in front of the court and will get a ban and a fine.
The best option is to try and get the minimum ban and fine, for a first offence that is 12 months. I would advise to get a solicitor who will talk in court for you, you wont need to say anything. Stress the circumstances that led you to drive and also stress your a student, with not much cash so it may reduce the fine also. You could try the option of being under stress with exams, relationship, family and it was out of character, etc...
Make sure you ask to attend the drink driving course which will reduce the ban by a third and if you want your name to stay out of the local papers try and get the court appearance to be later in the day as the journalists only stay for a few hours in the morning.

Have been there, second offence. When I appeared in the magistrates Court it was overwhelming and didnt have a clue what was going on, the Magistrate didnt even look at me, just another case to prosecute so I would advise a Solicitor to handle it all.

Good Luck, mate.
 
They won't be interested in any of the background. Apologise, explain that you thought that you would be under the limit and that you accept you were wrong and will learn from it. Don't waste money on a solicitor to do that for you - use the duty if you are too shy to speak for yourself.
 
I drove dangerously on A37 road but there was no accident, the lady behind me reported to the police. 10mins later police stopped me and did saliva swab which I tested positive. I was driven down to the station for blood test. I smoked cannabis 12hours ago will my blood test be over the legit . Please a quick answer will be appreciated.
 
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