Gutted......

Convicted Driver Insurance
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:( gutted

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Hi,
It's my first time here and my first time ever in trouble with the law. To say I'm scared is an understatement. I'm absolutely terrified,
My story is stupid, daft and I'm disgusted in myself.
3 weeks ago I was driving home from a meal out with my friends. I was with my boyfriend and had drank 1 large glass of wine and two halfs. I didn't like my food so hadn't had much to eat. But felt fine to drink and it was round the corner.
Long story short, me and my boyfriend had a daft argument and I turned to look at him and my car hit a parked car.
My car was cat c so was written off.
I was arrested ( first time ever) and blew over
Back at station blew 56 and 54. Charged at 54.
Now awaiting my court date....
any advice well received.
...... feel like ****. :(
 
You are looking at a 12-16 month ban and a fine, according to your income.
The reading sounds right for what you say you drank - as a female.
Turn up at court looking smart.
apologise to the court.
if you can, get character references and hand them in.
the ban can be reduced by up to 25% if you are offered and complete a Drink Drive Rehabilitation Course. Listen to what the magistrates say, if they offer the course then accept (you don’t have to do it, but you then have the option) if they do not offer it then ask if you can do one. I say this because you cannot be offered a course after the case has finished in court. We get cases where people ring after 7 months asking if they can do a course but there is no record of them on our system. Turns out they said “no” on the day, because they just wanted to get out of court, but when they realise they could be driving again in a couple of months, suddenly they think a course would be a good idea... but it is too late!
 
Thanks Price137,
Is it worth me taking in a solicitor?
I've got two character references and I'm planning on speaking to the duty solicitor.
If I'm pleading guilty then am I better going in unaided.
Any help much appreciated?
Feeling very low right about now...
 
Thanks Price137,
Is it worth me taking in a solicitor?
I've got two character references and I'm planning on speaking to the duty solicitor.
If I'm pleading guilty then am I better going in unaided.
Any help much appreciated?
Feeling very low right about now...

Probably better to save your money to pay the fine as it's a straight forward guilty plea rather than pay a solicitor but entirely up to you. Many prefer to have someone in court by their side but ultimately thats probably all you will be paying them for. You wont need to say much but obviously a solicitor will speak for you if you don't feel comfortable doing that yourself. It is unlikely they will be able argue down the length of a disqualification as nearly guaranteed you will get the minimum 12 months so probably better to find some courage. As Price said you will only need to apologise to the court, be remorseful and assure them it will never happen again. This is often better coming from you rather than a solicitor anyway.

The whole process won't take more than about 10 minutes and you will be out. Make sure you don't drive to court as the disqualification is effective immediately
 
Thank you,
My boss has offered to write ref just need an idea of what he should write. Is there any template s anyone know off that I could use.
 
Thank you,
My boss has offered to write ref just need an idea of what he should write. Is there any template s anyone know off that I could use.

Best to avoid templates, they will have seen hundreds if not thousands of personal references so will be probably stand out as a template.

Your boss simply needs to write about your previous good character, his awareness of your remorse, how valuable you are as a member of staff, how they know it was completely out of character etc. Just write from the heart, honestly. It doesnt need to be long, just a couple of paragraphs max.

If it were me writing it I would address it to 'Your Honor/s' or 'Your Honorable Magistrate Judges' and sign off with 'Respectfully' before signing.

It can be written in normal letter format.
 
I cannot give you any advice on how to reduce the time of your disqualification as it's mandatory.
However, I can offer you advice on how to dramatically reduce the size of the fine if you are interested.
 
I cannot give you any advice on how to reduce the time of your disqualification as it's mandatory.
However, I can offer you advice on how to dramatically reduce the size of the fine if you are interested.

Well that doesn't sound dodgy at all does it ;)

Go on then, you may aswell enlighten us
 
I cannot give you any advice on how to reduce the time of your disqualification as it's mandatory.
However, I can offer you advice on how to dramatically reduce the size of the fine if you are interested.

Any help with this would be fab,
Thanks
 
OK no problem.

I have proved over many years that if you are summoned to court and you are likely to
receive a big fine, than make sure you don't have a job when you appear in court.
It's not dodgy, it's a fact and I can prove it with examples of real court cases.
Hewl thinks I am wrong and presenting dodgy information.
OK Hewl then challenge me and prove me wrong and I will prove you wrong using facts rather
than opinions.
 
OK no problem.

I have proved over many years that if you are summoned to court and you are likely to
receive a big fine, than make sure you don't have a job when you appear in court.
It's not dodgy, it's a fact and I can prove it with examples of real court cases.
Hewl thinks I am wrong and presenting dodgy information.
OK Hewl then challenge me and prove me wrong and I will prove you wrong using facts rather
than opinions.

I stand corrected! Please accept my apologies, your information it not dodgy at all.

I didn't think you were presenting dodgy information tho, I thought you were going to and you have proved me wrong.

Obviously I am unable to prove you wrong as you are correct so no need to prove me wrong. A fine is income based, something I am aware of.

So.......you havent presented dodgy information at all but what you have presented is the biggest load of shyte advice I have seen in a while.

To summorise for the OP, you will lose your licence for a minimum of 12 months so here's some good advice! Also be unemployed too to save on the fine!! What a moron!
 
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You have a high paid job with a large salary and you need a driving licence
in order to keep the job.
You appear in court and receive a huge fine based upon your large salary.
You then loose your job due to not having a driving licence and now have to pay
the huge fine out of unemployment benefit.

I'm saying If you are guaranteed to loose your job due to being disqualified,
you will be far better off appearing in court without a job.

Now as the fine is income based at the time you appear in court how can I
possibly be wrong?

Also under some circumstances a person loosing their job doesn't receive
any unemployment benefit so appearing in court would result in no fine at all.

There is an old saying that you cannot get blood out of a stone.
You seem to think otherwise.
Sorry you think I'm a moron.
 
You have a high paid job with a large salary and you need a driving licence
in order to keep the job.
You appear in court and receive a huge fine based upon your large salary.
You then loose your job due to not having a driving licence and now have to pay
the huge fine out of unemployment benefit.

I'm saying If you are guaranteed to loose your job due to being disqualified,
you will be far better off appearing in court without a job.

Now as the fine is income based at the time you appear in court how can I
possibly be wrong?

Also under some circumstances a person loosing their job doesn't receive
any unemployment benefit so appearing in court would result in no fine at all.

There is an old saying that you cannot get blood out of a stone.
You seem to think otherwise.
Sorry you think I'm a moron.

Some of this is right, but you indicated to the poster that you could help her reduce her fine but as her employer seems to be supportive, it will not.
it is exceptional to not get a fine, unless a community order is imposed instead. A Band B fine is 125-175% of weekly disposeable income, but the lowest disposable income that is considered is £110. So even if you are on Jobseeker’s Allowance of £65 per week, your fine is based on £110 per week, plus every convicted person has to pay the victim surcharge of £20.
I am not an employment specialist, or good on issues to do with unemployment benefits, but I think that if you leave your job intentionally, you have to wait quite a while to be able to get and benefits as you have rendered yourself unemployed, whereas if your employment is terminated by your employer you may qualify for benefits straight away. This might cancel out the savings on the fine. It also might make a difference to claiming on mortgage insurance, which could cost even more than the saving on the fine.
All these things have to be considered before advising a person to abandon their job.
 
My comment wasn't an apology.
I am sad to realise you are so stupid to think it was.
OK so you are so stupid that you think it's better to go to court and
get a large fine and then pay it out of unemployment benefit.

I won't call you a moron however I consider you to be stupid ragarding money
management.

Quite simple really. If you are guaranteed to loose your job due to disqualification
then the smaller the fine the better.

Sadly you can't get that simple fact into your thick head.

Well they do say that you can't educate Pork.
 
I think this debate would be far better if it was continued via private messages, the original poster is getting no benefit from the rudeness that is being displayed....
 
I was not going to bother with you but some people may see your reasoning, take it at face value, wrongly think it's a good idea and shoot themselves in the foot. It is for these people only I shall reply.

"You have a high paid job with a large salary and you need a driving licence
in order to keep the job."


If you are that well paid perhaps employ the services of a chauffeur?

"You appear in court and receive a huge fine based upon your large salary.
You then loose your job due to not having a driving licence and now have to pay
the huge fine out of unemployment benefit."


Would it not be better to seek proper advice in the event of these circumstances?

"I'm saying If you are guaranteed to loose your job due to being disqualified,
you will be far better off appearing in court without a job."


Nothing is guaranteed. How would that be far better off? Surely explaining to the court honestly that you will lose your job they can accomodate the fine to your change of circumstances. If you voluntarily make yourself unemployed I am pretty sure you do not qualify for unemployment benefit straight away so you would be in a much worse position financially anyway. Were you aware of that?

"Now as the fine is income based at the time you appear in court how can I
possibly be wrong?"


It is yes but you can explain your circumstances are soon to drastically change. Magistrates are not ogres you know!

"Also under some circumstances a person loosing their job doesn't receive
any unemployment benefit so appearing in court would result in no fine at all."


Well that would be a huge relief! Just need to worry about the mortgage and bills then or do you suggest making yourself homeless too?

"There is an old saying that you cannot get blood out of a stone.
You seem to think otherwise."


Or maybe I suggest seeking alternatives to making yourself unemployed. Nothing is guaranteed so why put yourself in a worse position than before simply to save on a fine? It makes no sense at all and is very defeatest. There may be opportunities elsewhere within that company to work without the need for a licence or be driven as opposed to driving etc, its called communication and compromise. If you are that valuable to the company arrangements will be made for you.

In this post the OP's boss is writing her a reference which suggests they are sympathetic and this incident will not result in her being dismissed. So how exactly is your 'information' useful to her in any way? She has a job and is keeping her job.

In a nutshell, your information is highly flawed, without definitive thought and not helpful at all.

Lots of people end up losing their jobs for many different reasons but surely under no circumstances do it to yourself. Thats just plain stupid.

You have given no thought to the impact of being unemployed other than a lower fine so yes as my previous post stated I find you even more of a moron than before!
 
I think this debate would be far better if it was continued via private messages, the original poster is getting no benefit from the rudeness that is being displayed....

Very true Price, you are correct. I apologise to the original poster who is here for advise not bickering.

Maybe I should have just said to voluntarily make yourself unemployed is not advisable and left it as that.
 
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