DRINK DRIVING SENTENCES

Convicted Driver Insurance
Brief Description of Offence:
Had a couple of drinks with a meal, genuinely thought I was ok to drive, was an icy night, stupidly used wiper wash upon setting off which obscured vision and crashed into a parked car

Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:
Breath 42

Mitigating Factors:
Clean license, never had any points
Clean record
Co-operated with police
Low reading

Aggravating Factors:
Crashed car
Admitted to not clearing windscreen for long enough to police

Legal Representation at Court?:
Yes

Sentence:
12 months reduced to 9 with course and small fine

Offered the Drink Driving course:
Yes and intend to complete

Sentence Comments:
Good considering accident, shame there’s no bonus reduction for being such a low reading
You have had a 'bonus' reduction for 'such a low reading'. If your reading was higher, you would have been banned for longer! You were 20% over the drink drive limit, not exactly just failing is it?
 
Brief Description of Offence:
drinking at a friends, was meant to stay the night. didnt, got in the car with my son!!


Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:
116 breath test, nearly 4x :(


Mitigating Factors:
clean driving licence and full cooperation during arrest and subsequent test at the police station, apology letter to judge (highly recommend doing one of these)

Aggravating Factors:
High reading, child in car, clipped a roundabout


Legal Representation at Court?:
duty solicitor, who was very good, no charge


Sentence:
2 year ban, £500 fine


Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation
yes, will get 4 months off my ban


Sentence Comments:
Have well and truly learnt my lesson!! could have been soo much worse!
 
Brief Description of Offence:
drinking at a friends, was meant to stay the night. didnt, got in the car with my son!!


Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:
116 breath test, nearly 4x :(


Mitigating Factors:
clean driving licence and full cooperation during arrest and subsequent test at the police station, apology letter to judge (highly recommend doing one of these)

Aggravating Factors:
High reading, child in car, clipped a roundabout


Legal Representation at Court?:
duty solicitor, who was very good, no charge


Sentence:
2 year ban, £500 fine


Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation
yes, will get 4 months off my ban


Sentence Comments:
Have well and truly learnt my lesson!! could have been soo much worse!
Sorry to hear that! Did you get any community service? Asking as I think I will be nearly 4x the limit as well. Thanks
 
Brief Description of Offence:
Drug driving cannabis had a joint in garden after work then had to unexpectedly collect kids when partner was delayed. got reported by neighbour. police waiting at house when I got back


Level and Reading Type:
blood test 10ug (so 5x legal level although unlike drink legal level is basically to stop people getting done for passive inhalation)
i was not feeling intoxicated at all


Mitigating Factors:
clean driving licence 35 years and full cooperation during arrest and subsequent test at the police station
no sugggestion of bad driving
had character reference (which was ignored (said as I had no previous wasn't necessary?)
wrote letter of apology whiich duty solicitor read out but was ignored
had letter from GP confirming i'd received treatment for depression/anxiety immediately after my arrents

Aggravating Factors:
High reading, children in car,


Legal Representation at Court?:
duty solicitor, who was fairly useless


Sentence:
18 month ban, £500 fine


Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation
not applicable for drug driving


Sentence Comments:
Had already well and truly learned my lesson after waiting 6 months of sleepless nights and fear for blood results - will never break the law again
Feel the ban was excessive given i've read cases where people have crashed with similar levels to me and got less
Feel the apology, dressing smart and being fully cooperative made no diffrerence at all - if anything made things worse
Also was asked for no evidence of earnings/outgoings - just what I had left over at the end of each month - if i'd have said less i'd have got a much lower fine so again being honest cost me.
Feel very numbed by the whole experience but it's over now and as said I will never break the law again
The one positive is that i quit weed and smoking the day i was caught.
 
Brief Description of Offence:
Had a few drinks when going for a walk with my mates then stupidly made the decision to get into my parked car when I was walking past and putting something into the boot. I was quickly stopped in my tracks when I scraped the side of one car then straightaway went into the back of a stationary van. Arrested straightaway and admitted the offence, charged with attempting to drive over the legal limit.

Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:
Break - 100 at the scene of accident and 81 at the station.

Mitigating Factors:
No previous criminal convictions.

Aggravating Factors:
There was an accident.
6 points on my driving license already

Legal Representation at Court?:
Yes - duty solicitor. Glad I didn't pay the £500 since the solicitor I had contacted ended up being my duty solicitor who gave me exactly the same advice he'd given me in a free phone consultation.

Sentence:
20 month ban and £650 fine.

Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course?:
Yes - this will reduce my ban by 20 weeks, bringing the ban down to 15 months.

Sentence Comments:
What I expected, especially after my collision. Magistrates were very reasonable and I showed genuine remorse. Turning up in a suit and preparing a letter of apology to read out probably went a long way.

Counting my blessings that nobody was hurt and my boss has kept the incident under wraps for me so I can still pay the bills and provide for my family. Doing overtime every day of the week to save $$ for the pending bill from my insurance company who will be looking to recover the costs from the damage to other vehicles. A very hard lesson learned.
 
Brief Description of Offence:
Had a few drinks when going for a walk with my mates then stupidly made the decision to get into my parked car when I was walking past and putting something into the boot. I was quickly stopped in my tracks when I scraped the side of one car then straightaway went into the back of a stationary van. Arrested straightaway and admitted the offence, charged with attempting to drive over the legal limit.

Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:
Break - 100 at the scene of accident and 81 at the station.

Mitigating Factors:
No previous criminal convictions.

Aggravating Factors:
There was an accident.
6 points on my driving license already

Legal Representation at Court?:
Yes - duty solicitor. Glad I didn't pay the £500 since the solicitor I had contacted ended up being my duty solicitor who gave me exactly the same advice he'd given me in a free phone consultation.

Sentence:
20 month ban and £650 fine.

Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course?:
Yes - this will reduce my ban by 20 weeks, bringing the ban down to 15 months.

Sentence Comments:
What I expected, especially after my collision. Magistrates were very reasonable and I showed genuine remorse. Turning up in a suit and preparing a letter of apology to read out probably went a long way.

Counting my blessings that nobody was hurt and my boss has kept the incident under wraps for me so I can still pay the bills and provide for my family. Doing overtime every day of the week to save $$ for the pending bill from my insurance company who will be looking to recover the costs from the damage to other vehicles. A very hard lesson learned.
I got worse than you with no accident and clean license. Feel I got treated very roughly by the court.
 
I got worse than you with no accident and clean license. Feel I got treated very roughly by the court.
I cannot agree with that.... you were 5 times the drug drive limit got an 18 month ban AND you had children in the car.
You could well have got 22 months.
This is the sentencing council guidelines:
“As a guide, where an offence of driving or attempting to drive has been committed and there are no factors that increase seriousness the Court should consider a starting point of a Band C fine, and a disqualification in the region of 12–22 months.”

Having children in the car with that reading could well have put you at the top of that scale. 10.0 for cannabis is amongst the highest that has been reported on here, most have reported 2.1 to 5.
 
I cannot agree with that.... you were 5 times the drug drive limit got an 18 month ban AND you had children in the car.
You could well have got 22 months.
This is the sentencing council guidelines:
“As a guide, where an offence of driving or attempting to drive has been committed and there are no factors that increase seriousness the Court should consider a starting point of a Band C fine, and a disqualification in the region of 12–22 months.”

Having children in the car with that reading could well have put you at the top of that scale. 10.0 for cannabis is amongst the highest that has been reported on here, most have reported 2.1 to 5.
if you search you can find plenty of people with readings as high or higher than mine that got 12 months. I had one aggravating factor and 3 mitigating factors. The reality is that the drug driving 'limit' is nothing like the drink driving limit. A small joint (the equivalent to a bottle of beer or small glass of wine) can put you many many times over the 'limit' since it is basically set to zero tolerance, yet the level of impairment would be nothing like someone who's just twice the alcohol limit. I was expecting maybe 13-15 months. But compared to a drink driver I got the equivalent of 2 years (since they would have got a 6 month reduction)
I held my hands up, showed remorse, did everything by the book and got hammered.
Still, onwards I must go.
 
Brief Description of Offence:
Had a few beers in a beer garden in the afternoon over 5 hours. Thought I would be ok to drive in the night as I felt fine. Stupidly drove to get food and go home around 8pm. Complaint was made by a member of public that I had swerved to overtake someone. Police pulled up next to me and said my eyes looked glassy so tested me.

Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:
Breath 69ug

Mitigating Factors:
Long clean driving record, no previous drink driving / criminal convictions, co-operation with the police and admitted to drinking before driving to where I got tested straight away.

Aggravating Factors:
None

Legal Representation at Court?:
Yes

Sentence:
15 month ban, £450 fine plus extra £100 costs

Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course?:
Yes

Sentence Comments:
Dressed smart and arrived early. Had great references off a family friend and my previous employer which was a big help. My barrister was excellent and was definitely worth the money as he helped reduce my ban duration. Much better than I expected (which was 18-22 months and a bigger fine). Will never put myself in this situation again, lesson learnt.
 
if you search you can find plenty of people with readings as high or higher than mine that got 12 months. I had one aggravating factor and 3 mitigating factors. The reality is that the drug driving 'limit' is nothing like the drink driving limit. A small joint (the equivalent to a bottle of beer or small glass of wine) can put you many many times over the 'limit' since it is basically set to zero tolerance, yet the level of impairment would be nothing like someone who's just twice the alcohol limit. I was expecting maybe 13-15 months. But compared to a drink driver I got the equivalent of 2 years (since they would have got a 6 month reduction)
I held my hands up, showed remorse, did everything by the book and got hammered.
Still, onwards I must go.
this one for example had 6 times the legal coke limiit AND cannabis and had kid in car and got 12 months.
https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/sophie-lingwood-drug-driving-norwich-1374136
 
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And this one, for example, got 18 months for drug driving with no mention of children in the car:

“Liam Kelly was convicted of driving a car on the A30 under the influence of cocaine on May 4, 2020.

He pleaded guilty to the offence at Yeovil Magistrates' Court on December 22, 2020, and was made subject to a community order, as well as paying a victim surcharge of £95 and £85 court costs, as well as being banned from driving for 18 months.”


You need to accept the punishment and move on. Sentences vary within the parameters set for the magistrates from the facts that they hear. If you feel you have a case to show that they were excessive in your punishment then you can Appeal to the Crown Court within 21 says of the hearing.
 
And this one, for example, got 18 months for drug driving with no mention of children in the car:

“Liam Kelly was convicted of driving a car on the A30 under the influence of cocaine on May 4, 2020.

He pleaded guilty to the offence at Yeovil Magistrates' Court on December 22, 2020, and was made subject to a community order, as well as paying a victim surcharge of £95 and £85 court costs, as well as being banned from driving for 18 months.”


You need to accept the punishment and move on. Sentences vary within the parameters set for the magistrates from the facts that they hear. If you feel you have a case to show that they were excessive in your punishment then you can Appeal to the Crown Court within 21 says of the hearing.
Since he got a community order it’s likely there were aggravating factors not mentioned. But you are right I need to accept and move on. I will get there hopefully but I feel pretty harshly treated right now.
 
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Since he got a community order it’s likely there were aggravating factors not mentioned. But you are right I need to accept and move on. I will get there hopefully but I feel pretty harshly treated right now.
Hey, sounds like yr feeling pretty rubbish right now, that's allowed, how are you supposed to get over anything if you don't! You'll drive yourself mad comparing sentences, it will do you no good. Everyone deals with things differently but to just to share with you how I'm trying to go forward, I think trying to get over it is an unrealistic goal so for the foreseeable able I'm settling for learning to cope and trying to work out what I can do rather than what I can't. I really hope you can start moving on however it is still fresh, you were only convicted the other day, what you are feeling is normal
 
Hey, sounds like yr feeling pretty rubbish right now, that's allowed, how are you supposed to get over anything if you don't! You'll drive yourself mad comparing sentences, it will do you no good. Everyone deals with things differently but to just to share with you how I'm trying to go forward, I think trying to get over it is an unrealistic goal so for the foreseeable able I'm settling for learning to cope and trying to work out what I can do rather than what I can't. I really hope you can start moving on however it is still fresh, you were only convicted the other day, what you are feeling is normal
thankyou - i am struggling pretty bad at the mo. like you said it's early days. I still have to see how it works out for me with my job and if I hit the papers yet.
 
thankyou - i am struggling pretty bad at the mo. like you said it's early days. I still have to see how it works out for me with my job and if I hit the papers yet.

You will do your head in and around sentencing. Somebody driving while disqualified received a shorter ban than me with a higher reading ??? WTAF?
 
Brief Description of Offence:

Had a couple of drinks, thought I was ok to drive. Hit a kerb and set airbags off.



Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:

Blew 103 on the road . Failed to provide at station due to being too emotional/anxious/distressed.



Mitigating Factors:

Judge adjourned the hearing to find out more about my medical history. I feel he was sympathetic of my history of stress/anxiety.



Aggravating Factors:

Left car and started to walk home.



Legal Representation at Court?:

Yes. Paid £300 for a solicitor which was worth it in my opinion.



Sentence:

18 month ban reduced by 18 weeks if I take the course. £1250 fine.



Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course?:

Yes. Already started it.



Sentence Comments:

Think it was fair tbh. Worst experience I’ve ever been through, including a divorce. Lesson learnt.
 
Brief Description of Offence:
Had quite a lot to drink, was staying at a friends but decided to drive home when everyone was asleep😔

Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:
Was 117 at the station

Mitigating Factors:
cooperation with police, first offence, it was 3:30am so roads were not busy and it was on a sharp bend. Got character reference from my boss also.

Aggravating Factors:
Crashed into a parked car, very high reading!

Legal Representation at Court?:
Yes solicitor due to high reading

Sentence:
Disqualification for 20 months (15 with the course) and 180 hours community service to be done within 12 months

Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course?:
Yes and I intend to take it

Sentence Comments:
Glad it over, for some reason I was expecting a lot worse, I had so see a social carer due to the high reading and I feel her report helped me too. Now to deal with the cost of third party for the other car. Baby steps!
 
Brief Description of Offence:
Failure to provide specimen / blew at the roadside, reading was 90 had panic attack and couldn’t blow at station. Was not driving vehicle at the time, was found in passenger seat of friends’ vehicle and questioned about my car parked adjacent.

Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:
90 at roadside

Mitigating Factors:
No previous convictions, history of mental illness, was not driving at the time.

Aggravating Factors:
Tyre had unluckily blew out - no impact.

Legal Representation at Court?:
“Duty solicitor”

Sentence:
80 hours community service, £200 fine, 20 month ban reduced to 15 with drink drive course

Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course?:
Yes

Sentence Comments:
Plead guilty in the first instance due to stress of having to go through court proceedings. I was happy with any sentence passed down as I was terrified of going to prison.
 
Brief Description of Offence:
Alleged with Excess alcohol
Unfit through Drink or drugs.
Fortunately no one was injured.

Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:
122-Blood

Mitigating Factors:
1st offence
Clean driving licence
Good character/ character reference letters.
Remorse
Short distance driven
Assistance in prosecution/ accepted in police interview/ Pleaded Guilty.


Aggravating Factors:
Hit 4 parked cars.
Hit garden wall.
Passenger was taken to hospital but no injuries fortunately.
Ignored warnings signs from public.
As per witness I was trying run away after accident.

Legal Representation at Court?:
Yes

Sentence:
15 month’s Banned £662 total fine. Ban will be reduced by 15 weeks.

Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course?:
Yes

Sentence Comments:
It was an excellent result after all the aggravating factors. They could have gone for upper bracket. I’m happy with overall financial penalty and ban.
 
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