New to here and looking for advice

[N12muppet]

Hi, I have been banned twice in 10 years. My 2nd ban finishes on the 8th November and I have to go for a medical (date still waiting on).


I have only just discovered this website and have found a lot of conflicting opinions. But I am getting the impression that once my ban is over getting my licence back is not that cut and dried. I do still drink regularly. I drink wine or beer most nights, a couple of cans or I share a bottle of wine with my wife, at home, over the course of the evening. We go socially to our local on the weekends. I go to the pub to watch the footie.


I went on the drink awareness course back in Feb of this year to get the ban reduced to 27 months from 36. As part of that course I had write a drink diary of three weeks. I was around what is considered normal,one week over, one week under but it averaged out. The course leader said my consumption was the same as hers and not excessive.


But I am a High Risk Offender and I have to prove my sobriety. The drink awareness course was extremely enlightening and educational and I regret not going on it first time round. My first ban I was twice over the limit and I didn't go on the course because I felt that I didn't deserve a reduction on my ban. My second time I was only just over and the judge gave me a very small fine but had to give me the three year ban but she also allowed my to go on the course. She also said that if I had taken a blood test at the police station I could have been proved under the limit because my alcohol level was 41. She was astonished that the arresting officer gave me a cup of tea drove me to my car and I was free to drive home after another breath test, some 30 mins after I was pulled over.


The course teaches about how your body absorbs and gets rid of alcohol and how long it takes. This should be part of our driving tests along with theory.


I digress, I am not looking for sympathy and I take full responsibility for what happened because I did make the bad decisions and it is only by luck not judgment that no one was hurt or worse.


But, I am in this situation, so, how do I get out of it? What actually is 2.3 CRT? If a period of not drinking is required then how long? Does Milk of Thistle actually work or is that an urban myth like the character names in Captain Pugwash?


All helpful advice will be gratefully received. And if you want to give me a hard time about how stupid I have been... Remember that it's nothing compared to the bollockings I have given to myself.

Kind regards
N12muppet

 

[Forum Moderator]

I have only just discovered this website and have found a lot of conflicting opinions. But I am getting the impression that once my ban is over getting my licence back is not that cut and dried. I do still drink regularly. I drink wine or beer most nights, a couple of cans or I share a bottle of wine with my wife, at home, over the course of the evening. We go socially to our local on the weekends. I go to the pub to watch the footie.

I went on the drink awareness course back in Feb of this year to get the ban reduced to 27 months from 36. As part of that course I had write a drink diary of three weeks. I was around what is considered normal,one week over, one week under but it averaged out. The course leader said my consumption was the same as hers and not excessive.

But, I am in this situation, so, how do I get out of it? What actually is 2.3 CRT? If a period of not drinking is required then how long? Does Milk of Thistle actually work or is that an urban myth like the character names in Captain Pugwash?

It is actually CDT not CRT, it stands for Carbohydrate Deficient Transferrin and is a biomarker used by the DVLA to help them assess if a person misuses or is dependant on alcohol, more information can be found here. Part of a high risk offenders medical will consist of providing a sample of blood which will then be tested to determine an individuals CDT level.

CDT testing is also a relatively new method to help the DVLA assess a persons fitness to drive, they used to use a liver function test which tested different biomarkers (GGT, MCV and ALT).

I think the reason for the conflicting opinions is that everyone's situation, drinking habits and biological make up are very different. How quickly the whole process will be dealt with will also depend on the workload of the DVLA as well.

High risk offenders can submit a driving licence application 90 days before their disqualification is due to end. This means that if your disqualification is due to end of the 8th of Nov you could have and should have submitted your application around the 8th Aug. When did you submit your application?

In regards to your alcohol intake, my advice would be to stick to the lower risk daily guidelines of 2-4 units per day for men and 2-3 units per day for women or if you are overly concerned about your previous drinking habits then you should drink even less than this or totally abstain altogether.

 

[Bunnyskinny13]

Do the DVLA compare previous CDT results even in the green zone?

Been waiting for my results and have been written to and advised that they are awaiting the medical assessors and may take a further 9 weeks? I'm now very worried as I just want to get my life completely back on track. I've had a year long temporary licence since the last med. underwent detox in 2011. Had med on 11th December an have seen some already have their licences back. This is dominating my life. I'm due for promotion at work and I'm terrified this will actually see me in the gutter. Worse still it makes me want to drink!!!!!

 

[ally]

'The course teaches about how your body absorbs and gets rid of alcohol and how long it takes. This should be part of our driving tests along with theory.'

This has to be the best thing I have read on here, I am researching at the moment and willing to start an awareness campaign as people I have spoken too know nothing about this. I had a skin full the previous night to me getting pulled and although I felt perfectly fine the two drinks I had the fateful evening I had literally topped up from the night before. I have read people have gulped water when in the cell in the hope of diluting the alcohol, running around in the cell hoping it wears off. It takes time and that's it.

All the campaigns by the police warn people about driving the following day but little is said about why. I am sure if people were properly educated about how your body absorbs and gets rid of alcohol and how long it takes, the number of drink drivers would drop significantly. It would be a great idea for money to be spent on mandatory courses for drivers to inform them and update them on legislation rather than paying police overtime and publishing their drink driving arrest statistics all over twitter. I think it is very sad that people like myself have to go to hell and back when my situation and thousands of others could have been avoided. Its only been since my mistake that I have researched and read case studies I was amazed at what I was reading.

I really would like to put some sort of campaign together I suppose wanting to raise awareness and hope every human being I speak to never in their lifetime goes through what I and so many others have been through.

 

[Routemaster]

'The course teaches about how your body absorbs and gets rid of alcohol and how long it takes. This should be part of our driving tests along with theory.'

This has to be the best thing I have read on here, I am researching at the moment and willing to start an awareness campaign as people I have spoken too know nothing about this. I had a skin full the previous night to me getting pulled and although I felt perfectly fine the two drinks I had the fateful evening I had literally topped up from the night before. I have read people have gulped water when in the cell in the hope of diluting the alcohol, running around in the cell hoping it wears off. It takes time and that's it.

All the campaigns by the police warn people about driving the following day but little is said about why. I am sure if people were properly educated about how your body absorbs and gets rid of alcohol and how long it takes, the number of drink drivers would drop significantly. It would be a great idea for money to be spent on mandatory courses for drivers to inform them and update them on legislation rather than paying police overtime and publishing their drink driving arrest statistics all over twitter. I think it is very sad that people like myself have to go to hell and back when my situation and thousands of others could have been avoided. Its only been since my mistake that I have researched and read case studies I was amazed at what I was reading.

I really would like to put some sort of campaign together I suppose wanting to raise awareness and hope every human being I speak to never in their lifetime goes through what I and so many others have been through.

I think there is not enough education about DD, you're right it should come as part of the theory test and there should be mandatory courses that all drivers must take. I would never have thought that having 2 pints one night adds to 2 pints the next night then can put you over the limit the morning after. Maybe that's a good reason to buy your own breathalyser.

Of I may ask: How many hours was it between your last drink the previous night and you driving the next morning?

 

[ally]

I was home and in bed by 11.30pm that evening following evening I had two white wines and soda from 7.30-11 pm 3 times over the limit