Drink Driving Appeal - Is it worth it??

Convicted Driver Insurance

bki

New Member
Hi

I've been coming on here for a while now, I was caught with 80mg in breath back in August following a bus crashing into me on a saturday morning, I'd been to pick my car and DJ equipment up from the pub I DJ in part time. (Bus company have accepted liability for the accident, I haven't been charged with Dangerous or careless driving by the police)

I was in court last week and given a 20month ban (15 with DD course) and £100 fine as I have lost my day job as I can't drive...had to tell work today which was probably worse than going to court.

Rewind to the night I was DJing, and over the course of the evening, I had drank 5 beers, and I know that this amount wouldn't put me over the limit in the morning. I was working from 8-12.30 that night.

In court my defence was that my drinks had been spiked, as there is no way I'd have been over in the morning after 5 beers. I didn't feel particularly well in the morning as I'd been on Tamiflu and Codiene and I have a bad sinus problem so I'd taken a tablet for that as well.

Anyway I can only think that someone has spiked my drinks whilst i was working, the pub gets a lot of idiots in there and on that night i was constantly being pestered off a group of lads to use my mic and play the music they wanted. I didn't, hence these are the only people i can think who would spike my drinks when i went for a fag/nipped to the gents.

I'd been off work at my day job the end of that week and yes i shouldnt have gone to DJ if i wasn't feeling 100%, but I needed the money. And yes I shouldn't have drank whilst on medication, but its happened now.

My solicitor allowed me to prepare all the statements (3) of people working at the pub who didn't see me drinking to excess that night, then decided to tell me ON THE DAY OF THE TRIAL :eek: that I should just pleed guilty cos the evidence i'd given wasn't strong enough (pub doesnt have CCTV inside :mad: and I don't know who this group of lads were, even if it was them...

Apologies for the essay but just wanted to list what happened so people can see what they think.

My question is...is it worth going for an appeal (albeit with a different solicitor!) cos i didnt even get a trial cos the solicitor didnt explain whatsoever that the guilty plea meant that I got chance to say what happened (I thought it was guilty but with special reasons). its been 7 day since i was sentenced.

Also, are you supposed to have an interview at the police station? I was never interviewed, just thrown straight in the cell after blowing in the machine then getting my DNA etc done b4 i went??

Any help/advice anyone can give would be much appreciated cheers
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi

I've been coming on here for a while now, I was caught with 80mg in breath back in August following a bus crashing into me on a saturday morning, I'd been to pick my car and DJ equipment up from the pub I DJ in part time. (Bus company have accepted liability for the accident, I haven't been charged with Dangerous or careless driving by the police)

I was in court last week and given a 20month ban (15 with DD course) and £100 fine as I have lost my day job as I can't drive...had to tell work today which was probably worse than going to court.

Rewind to the night I was DJing, and over the course of the evening, I had drank 5 beers, and I know that this amount wouldn't put me over the limit in the morning. I was working from 8-12.30 that night.

In court my defence was that my drinks had been spiked, as there is no way I'd have been over in the morning after 5 beers. I didn't feel particularly well in the morning as I'd been on Tamiflu and Codiene and I have a bad sinus problem so I'd taken a tablet for that as well.

Anyway I can only think that someone has spiked my drinks whilst i was working, the pub gets a lot of idiots in there and on that night i was constantly being pestered off a group of lads to use my mic and play the music they wanted. I didn't, hence these are the only people i can think who would spike my drinks when i went for a fag/nipped to the gents.

I'd been off work at my day job the end of that week and yes i shouldnt have gone to DJ if i wasn't feeling 100%, but I needed the money. And yes I shouldn't have drank whilst on medication, but its happened now.

My solicitor allowed me to prepare all the statements (3) of people working at the pub who didn't see me drinking to excess that night, then decided to tell me ON THE DAY OF THE TRIAL :eek: that I should just pleed guilty cos the evidence i'd given wasn't strong enough (pub doesnt have CCTV inside :mad: and I don't know who this group of lads were, even if it was them...

Apologies for the essay but just wanted to list what happened so people can see what they think.

My question is...is it worth going for an appeal (albeit with a different solicitor!) cos i didnt even get a trial cos the solicitor didnt explain whatsoever that the guilty plea meant that I got chance to say what happened (I thought it was guilty but with special reasons). its been 7 day since i was sentenced.

Also, are you supposed to have an interview at the police station? I was never interviewed, just thrown straight in the cell after blowing in the machine then getting my DNA etc done b4 i went??

Any help/advice anyone can give would be much appreciated cheers

There is a 21 day time limit to lodge an appeal. It may be worth contacting another solicitor to take a look at your case to see if you have any chance of success. However, by what you have written, there is no hard evidence to support your claim of spiked drinks.

While staff members can provide statements to say you did not drink to excess while at work, this does not actually prove that you didnt drink to excess, just that if you did they never seen you, it does not prove that you did not drink alcohol either before going to work or after you had finished work or indeed at any other time leading up to the offence.

Your blood alcohol level on the other hand actually proves you were driving while over the legal prescribed limit.
 
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