19BM93
New Member
Hi all,
Been reading everyone’s stories over the past few months and it’s honestly helped me so much, so here’s mine:
A friend and I went for a few drinks in town on a Sunday as we normally would. Around 11pm I wanted to call it a night and we left. The wait for a taxi was over an hour and in the November cold, I didn’t want to wait that long. I left my car in town and started to walk towards it when my friend asked what I was doing and I said I was just going to drive (I lived around 10 minutes away). My friend said just wait for a taxi but I stupidly declined and walked off, thinking nothing else of it. I felt fine at this point, roads were empty as it was a Sunday at around 11pm.
I live in a Cul-De-Sac and pulled up outside my house as normal & turned the engine off. All of a sudden a large, undercover BMW 4x4 pulled up behind me, needless to say I sh#t myself & my heart sunk. Next thing, a policeman walks up to window and asks me to get out the car. I was then informed that they’d had an ‘anonymous’ tip off from a friend that I was unfit to drive after drinking and they were concerned. (my friend mentioned in a passing comment that he’d ring the police, again I thought nothing of it at the time).
So I took a roadside breath test right outside my house - where I’m sure my neighbours could see, making me 10x more anxious - and failed (didn’t give a number) & was then taken to a police station. I blew 43 & was kept in a cell until around 5am, luckily the police took me home as the station was around half an hour away and I would’ve had to call my parents!
Fast forward to court and I chose to represent myself, having no previous convictions and no aggravating factors etc etc, I did speak to the duty solicitor on at the time and she said it was best to represent myself. I was just honest, showed remorse and owned up for all of my actions. I think they respected this and I was out of court in around 10 mins.
I was given a 12 month ban (reduced to 9 with a course - definitely worth doing for the sake of 3 months) and a £433 fine.
At the time of writing this I have 26 days left so the finishing line is in sight! Got a quote for insurance of around £550 a year so not too bad.
For anyone about to be convicted - keep your head up; it flies by! I fell into a pretty bad way mentally the first couple of months after conviction, but you’ll find that your family and real friends will have amazing support for you & you’ll realise you can live without a car. I thought I was going to lose my job but as there’s transport links to where I work I was fine - even just been offered a promotion! So it does get better.
Thanks for reading & hopefully your bans fly by!
Been reading everyone’s stories over the past few months and it’s honestly helped me so much, so here’s mine:
A friend and I went for a few drinks in town on a Sunday as we normally would. Around 11pm I wanted to call it a night and we left. The wait for a taxi was over an hour and in the November cold, I didn’t want to wait that long. I left my car in town and started to walk towards it when my friend asked what I was doing and I said I was just going to drive (I lived around 10 minutes away). My friend said just wait for a taxi but I stupidly declined and walked off, thinking nothing else of it. I felt fine at this point, roads were empty as it was a Sunday at around 11pm.
I live in a Cul-De-Sac and pulled up outside my house as normal & turned the engine off. All of a sudden a large, undercover BMW 4x4 pulled up behind me, needless to say I sh#t myself & my heart sunk. Next thing, a policeman walks up to window and asks me to get out the car. I was then informed that they’d had an ‘anonymous’ tip off from a friend that I was unfit to drive after drinking and they were concerned. (my friend mentioned in a passing comment that he’d ring the police, again I thought nothing of it at the time).
So I took a roadside breath test right outside my house - where I’m sure my neighbours could see, making me 10x more anxious - and failed (didn’t give a number) & was then taken to a police station. I blew 43 & was kept in a cell until around 5am, luckily the police took me home as the station was around half an hour away and I would’ve had to call my parents!
Fast forward to court and I chose to represent myself, having no previous convictions and no aggravating factors etc etc, I did speak to the duty solicitor on at the time and she said it was best to represent myself. I was just honest, showed remorse and owned up for all of my actions. I think they respected this and I was out of court in around 10 mins.
I was given a 12 month ban (reduced to 9 with a course - definitely worth doing for the sake of 3 months) and a £433 fine.
At the time of writing this I have 26 days left so the finishing line is in sight! Got a quote for insurance of around £550 a year so not too bad.
For anyone about to be convicted - keep your head up; it flies by! I fell into a pretty bad way mentally the first couple of months after conviction, but you’ll find that your family and real friends will have amazing support for you & you’ll realise you can live without a car. I thought I was going to lose my job but as there’s transport links to where I work I was fine - even just been offered a promotion! So it does get better.
Thanks for reading & hopefully your bans fly by!