It gets better!

Convicted Driver Insurance

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!
 
Nice story#
Hope u still class him as your friend as the likeyhood being you would of repeated the risk another time! On that time may possibly had much higher consiquences
But your Friends actions have made that possibility almost non existent
 
Nice story#
Hope u still class him as your friend as the likeyhood being you would of repeated the risk another time! On that time may possibly had much higher consiquences
But your Friends actions have made that possibility almost non existent

Hey,
I didn’t speak to him for around a month or so, purely because of shock and I couldn’t get my head around why he’d do such a thing, but as time went on and the dust settled I thought about why he did it & the fact that like you said I probably would’ve done it again... so we’re fine now - but yeah it’s definitely taught me a lesson that’s for sure! ?
 
Thanks for your sharing your experience it was similar to mine apart from the friend tipping of the police... flipping British weather !! I have shared my experience in another thread if you wish to read it and yes it fly's by !! I got my license and brand new car on April 4 th 2019 and tbh it now feels like it never happened...so yes some of us make stupid mistakes but it gets better :)
 
It's great the hear positive things like this. The first 6-8 months from the time of arrest can be a blur of horror and anxiety.
@Slip1970, if you don't mind sharing, who did you get your insurance from? being a brand new car was it more expensive?
I have to get a car as I got rid of mine but am too nervous to even start looking at quotes :confused:
 
Yes your right Drew B the first 6 months is pretty grim but you soon get into the swing of it !! I Got a decent policy through Geoffrey insurance...it's twice as much as my old car but @ £448 on a brand new seat Leon FR 150BHP I thought it wasn't to bad...it's a lease car and the are some really good deals out there. Cheers.
 
Enter code DRINKDRIVING10 during checkout for 10% off
Top