Feeling trapped and scared

Convicted Driver Insurance

blueyonder76

Well Known Member
OK this is not clever or good in April 2010 I was convicted of drink driving and undertook the course reducing my sentence to 18 months. Since then I have not commited any other offences. However I have recently undergone a redundancy threat, job transfer that didn't work out and have just started a new job. Spilt up from my long term partner and family and moved. All of which have been pretty stressful. Last Saturday I went to see a friend on foot and returned home. My mother wanted me to met for lunch. Thinking that I was fine, I went to meet her and on the way back did not notice a police car behind me. They alleged I was speeding and having dropped my mother off pulled me over in the local car park and took me to the station. I blew 59 on the machine. I thought I was ok and didn't feel drunk at all and had eaten. I am now rightly facing a further ban, but am worried as my Solicitor told me I may go to jail or have to do community service ! Would this be the normal for such a case. Work have told me they will accomodate the ban but I will need to work 9-5:30 5 days a week. Two other solicitors haven't mentioned this and have advised it will be a 36 month ban and possibly I may be allowed on the course again to reduce it. Also apparently I can re-apply for my licence in 2 years time. Is this true ? Any advice?
 
OK this is not clever or good in April 2010 I was convicted of drink driving and undertook the course reducing my sentence to 18 months. Since then I have not commited any other offences. However I have recently undergone a redundancy threat, job transfer that didn't work out and have just started a new job. Spilt up from my long term partner and family and moved. All of which have been pretty stressful. Last Saturday I went to see a friend on foot and returned home. My mother wanted me to met for lunch. Thinking that I was fine, I went to meet her and on the way back did not notice a police car behind me. They alleged I was speeding and having dropped my mother off pulled me over in the local car park and took me to the station. I blew 59 on the machine. I thought I was ok and didn't feel drunk at all and had eaten. I am now rightly facing a further ban, but am worried as my Solicitor told me I may go to jail or have to do community service ! Would this be the normal for such a case. Work have told me they will accomodate the ban but I will need to work 9-5:30 5 days a week. Two other solicitors haven't mentioned this and have advised it will be a 36 month ban and possibly I may be allowed on the course again to reduce it. Also apparently I can re-apply for my licence in 2 years time. Is this true ? Any advice?

Upon a second conviction of driving with excess alcohol within the space of ten years and a breath reading of 59 magistrates sentencing guidelines suggest a band C fine and a driving disqualification of between 36-40 months. Magistrates may offer you the chance of taking the drink driving rehabilitation course but this is by no means a certainty when convicted of a second offence and they can also deviate from the guidelines depending upon mitigating and aggravating circumstances, you are right on the borderline for the next sentencing bracket up which suggests the same penalties as above, the only difference being that the disqualification suggested is that of one between 36-46 months instead of 36-40 months.

You will also be classed as a high risk offender due to the fact it will be your second drink driving conviction within the space of ten years, this means that you will need to take and pass a DVLA medical before your driving licence will be issued to you upon the expiration of your driving disqualification.

It is possible to apply for the early return of a driving licence after two years of a disqualification has been served, more details of applying for the early return of your driving licence can be found here.

Let us know how you get on at court as it could help someone who finds themselves in a similar situation to yourself in the future.
 
Thank you for this information. I am not proud of this at all, and had believed I had truly learnt my lesson. The last 3 months have been awful and I think that this is why it has accumulated and escalated into an unfortunate incident.
 
I have been caught and charged last week. Although this is my first time I felt bad enough to make up my mind and quit drinking, little did I realise such devastating effect it would have with my life. I wish you all the best in your case.
 
Do I tell work its a 3 year ban and 2nd offence or hope for the best that is my next question. They said they would accomodate it .....but how long will they I wonder its a hell of a long time !
 
Do I tell work its a 3 year ban and 2nd offence or hope for the best that is my next question. They said they would accomodate it .....but how long will they I wonder its a hell of a long time !

I would suggest you wait until you have been to court. Guidelines as stated previously suggest a 36 month (3 year) to 40 month (3 year 4 month) driving disqualification for a second offence and breath reading of 59, as you are at the highest end of that sentencing bracket it is likely you wont be sentenced to the minimum period, so the disqualification period may well be over 3 years.

Again, there is a possibility you may get offered the opportunity to take the course which can reduce the period of disqualification by up to 25%. If you did get a 40 month disqualification with a 25% reduction for course completion, your disqualification would be 30 months (2.5 years).

If you wait until you have been sentenced and find out if you are going to be offered the course then you can tell work the exact length of your driving disqualification.
 
Has anyone received a 3 year ban and then tried to apply for their licence early ? What is the procedure and how successful have people been ?
 
Now I'm seriously scared. Over 3 years and probably 3 years will certainly mean a career change is needed. What about applying for my licence after 2 years?
 
It depends on how the case is presented to the court by the prosecutor. If the case is presented as "the defendant was stopped after appearing to be travelling over the prescribed limit..... Then breath tested...." Then you can probably expect the 3 year ban. If, on the other hand, there is much more detail about excessive speed and perhaps the proximity of a school, then 40 months is much more likely.
The majority of people I see on courses with a second conviction, unless they are very close together or have high second readings, get a 3 year ban.
With a 5 year gap since the first offence, the court may well offer another DDRS course, if you ask to be allowed to do one as you clearly have "not fully understood how driving the following day can be affected from drinking the night before" then they could be hard pressed to refuse.
i agree with the mod, wait until you know what the length of the ban is before you inform your employer. Unless you are subject to an enhanced DBS check for work, your first conviction is spent after 5 years and need not be disclosed, but if they have any knowledge of drink driving at all, they will realise that with a reading of 58 and a 3 year ban, you must have a previous in the past 10 years, unless you were involved in a very serious accident.
Once you have completed half of a ban, subject to a minimum of 2 years served, an application can be made for restoration of your licence, but there have to be good reasons and it is by no means taken for granted. I usually advocate using a solicitor with experience in this field because often what you think are good reasons to get your licence back are the very reasons why magistrates will refuse!
 
Thank you. This is most helpful information. I am hoping by using a Solicitor I can put together a decent case and that they will take circumstances into consideration.

We will have to wait and see.

BlueYonder76
 
Yes you can, they are entirely separate matters..... but if you complete a course you have a right to the reduction. After 2 years it it the courts discretion and you MAY only be successful with that.
 
Thanks I saw my solicitor on Friday and he seemed to think I would get two hearings and that after 2 years they may or may not reduce my sentence further as normally this applies to discretionary bans. i.e if I got 2 years 3 months with the drink driving course they may not reduce my sentence further as a result if applied. Anyone offer advice on this. ??? Or have experience. I am thinking I'll need to change career as I need a car for work anyway and 3 years is along time to not be driving !
 
I am aware of people who have got the reduction in their ban from the course, then also got a reduction at the 2 year stage. The last one where I heard the result was a person who got a reduction to 2 years and 1 month, so 2 months extra off.
i would suggest that the priority should be to do the course, then see if you can get the reduction. Not because we run them..... But it makes economic and practical sense. The course will cost you half or less what a solicitor will charge to make the application, so pound for pound your money is better spent on a c purse. This guarantees you a reduction.
If you then also get a solicitor you MAY get a further 3 months off.
You may have difficulty in your application to the court if you do not bother to do the course as you are saying "Please will you help me get my licence back after 2 years, but I can't be bothered to help myself getting a reduction by doing a course."
 
Is there any chance I will be in the local paper and if so can I avoid my name going public and address details. It's my 2nd offence.

Thanks
 
Is there any chance I will be in the local paper and if so can I avoid my name going public and address details. It's my 2nd offence.

Thanks

There is a chance but depends on whether it is deemed news worthy or not. If there is any extraordinary events in your case etc. Does your local paper usually report on straight forward drink driving convictions?

If they were to deem it news worthy and you were in the paper unfortunately there is nothing you can do about it.
 
There was no accident I was stopped in a car park so pretty boring ! I hope that I could at least ask for some privacy its pretty embrassing anyway.
 
So if the press are there they may decide to publish my details ? Can I request via my Solicitor they are not ? The embrassment would be awful !
 
There was no accident I was stopped in a car park so pretty boring ! I hope that I could at least ask for some privacy its pretty embrassing anyway.

Pretty boring is good! I'd say it was very unlikely it would make the papers, certainly not as a story. If (and its a big if) it were to be, it would be in small print. I know some local papers do this. Do you have access to a previous paper? If you do, have a good look through it and see if they do list completed court cases. It would be public information so difficult to ask for privacy if they do publish such things.
 
As Hewl says, it can depend on what else is happening at the time. Some papers run with a column: "in court this week were:....." And then list names, offences and punishments.
If you are in a rural area, they seem more likely to write a story on "ordinary" offences than the city paper where there are plenty of mugging so etc to report. I remember seeing a story about 5 years ago on the front page of the Aberystwyth paper "The Cambrian News", complete with a photo of the offender with details of the litter dropping offence!
My advice is to keep a low profile at court and do not approach any reporter. They are entitled to report proceedings in court, including your name and address , because it is a public court. Anyone can sit in court to observe cases. A client on one of our courses told me that he bought every copy of the local paper in his village for 2 weeks to make sure no one read his story there. He forgot that nearly half the village had it delivered so his efforts were in vain.
If yours is a routine drink drive case, and you are "Mr Average" then it may well not be reported. If you approached the reporter and said: "Please do not put this in the paper, I am chairman of the local Rotary group." ..... They you have given them a story: "local Rotarian in drink Drive shame."
I once dealt with a man who did not have an accident, blew 72, did not have much "status" and was fully co-operative. He made large headlines on page 5 of the local paper. He fell on the floor as he came out of the toilet and when I told him to get up, his reply made the headline.....: "I'm unconscious".... Says man arrested for drink driving!
 
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