My son has been convicted of failure to breathalyse unfortunately he has been convicted of drink driving 4 years before

Convicted Driver Insurance

Lou73

Member
I’m devastated, my son is the nicest lad you’ll ever meet he’s the life n soul of the party but also straight down the line. He’s 24 he was convicted of drink driving 4 years ago he blew at 49 he got one year suspension plus 350 pound fine, he’s been doing great n not a big drinker but when he drinks he doesn’t know when to stop n has blackouts where he can’t remember. Mad fri he went out with his friend had drinks n went to bed his mate was texting him saying come meet us n before he knew it he’d driven his work van to meet him (he can’t remember this which is the scary thing) at 2am the police stopped him n he failed the breathalyser he’s had the worst cold flu n cough although this won’t stand in court but he says it wasn’t deliberate. What will happen in court? I’m so worried for him as he’s so down, in his normal state of mind he would never do such a thing sober. He has just gone self employed vans written up uniforms bought everything in his life so good but a moment of madness has ruined everything.
 
Hi Lou I think at court he will be looking at a minimum ban of 3years because this is the second offence in 10 years and depending what his reading was at the police station will be a fine and possibly community service, if he's blacking out with the drinking maybe now is the time to get professional help, the aggravating factors here is that he knew he was drunk but still drove I'm not sure if the courts will warm to that, he hasn't got much to offer in the way of mitigating factors, do you know what reading he gave ? My apologies Lou I miss read the headline that he failed to provide
 
Last edited:
Thankyou for your reply, he actually read 90 on the roadside but failed it in the police station I should have said. Yes we are going to get him professional help he knows he needs help, I’m going to get a good solicitor to try and make it only a 3 year ban, thus said I don’t think he’ll ever afford insurance again really as it will be too expensive! Thankyou for your help honestman
 
Hi
Lou73 said:
I’m devastated, my son is the nicest lad you’ll ever meet he’s the life n soul of the party but also straight down the line. He’s 24 he was convicted of drink driving 4 years ago he blew at 49 he got one year suspension plus 350 pound fine, he’s been doing great n not a big drinker but when he drinks he doesn’t know when to stop n has blackouts where he can’t remember. Mad fri he went out with his friend had drinks n went to bed his mate was texting him saying come meet us n before he knew it he’d driven his work van to meet him (he can’t remember this which is the scary thing) at 2am the police stopped him n he failed the breathalyser he’s had the worst cold flu n cough although this won’t stand in court but he says it wasn’t deliberate. What will happen in court? I’m so worried for him as he’s so down, in his normal state of mind he would never do such a thing sober. He has just gone self employed vans written up uniforms bought everything in his life so good but a moment of madness has ruined everything.
Click to expand...

Hi Lou,

I'm the same age as your son and I'm still waiting for sentencing on my offence.

Unfortunately because it's his second in 10 years he'll get a minimum 3 year ban.

However, like myself, his drinking issues have been noticed early on in his life and they can now be addressed along with the issues that cause them.

Honestly I'm glad I was caught because it has brought so much more of my issues to light and it's only now I'm getting the support I should have had as a child.

It's a bad situation but as many keep saying to me "You're 24, you've still got your whole life ahead of you"
 
Thankyou robob, you know what he’s said exactly the same he’s glad he got caught he thought he was invincible and no one could tell him not me his dad or his girlfriend he just wouldn’t listen to us and he said that too! I feel so sorry for you both that it’s took this hard lesson to learn, I haven’t given him a hard time just help encouragement that he will be ok will we all help with lifts etc and he won’t lose his job but no one beating himself up like himself I’m sure you’re the same? Yes you’ve both got the rest of your lives ahead and no one got hurt or yourself so maybe it was a blessing! Please keep in touch this has really helped me thankyou!
 
Plus the main issue is help that he needs he’s been referred for counselling and will have an appointment in 1-3 days I don’t know why he binge drinks why he blacks out but the professionals will help him with that he asked to be referred as well so that’s a plus sign.
 
I would save your money on the solicitor. In the circumstances you have described he is likely to get just the 3 year ban. It is only usually longer if there has been a collision So he can speak for himself and apologise to the court for his actions. He can ask - if he is not offered by the court- to be allowed to attend a Drink Drive Rehabilitation course which will reduce the length of his ban by up to 25%. The cost is in the region of £150-250 and is a much better way of spending money on reducing the ban than paying more than that to a solicitor who may be able to get a month or two off, but not to get it below the minimum of 3 years.
 
I agree with what your saying but I’m scared they might make an example of him due to his stupidity I feel if I get him the best representation it will help? I’ve looked it up and it says he could get a custodial sentence which we would all find extremely hard to deal with. I will ask his solicitor to ask for the drink rehabilitation course as I think he really needs it do you understand my reasons? Beside myself right now
 
The magistrates have guidelines to follow and will not be unduly influenced by his being ham fisted making representations to them. He could always write down what he wants to say and stick to the script.
any solicitor will do to submit mitigation, it does not require an expert one in drink driving procedures as he is admitting what he did. The more detail that is given about his drink problems, the worse it could appear to the magistrates......

In theory a custodial sentence could be considered but that would be MOST unlikely in the circumstances you have described.
you should not pay more than about £300 for a simple guilty plea with a solicitor.
 
Thankyou for your advice do you think the duty solicitor would suffice? I understand what you are saying the solicitor I have is 1000 plus vat
 
the duty solicitor would be fine, but with drink driving offences you cannot be sure of getting him/her to represent your son. They may be busy with other offences.
Consequently the duty solicitor might not be available to him.
He might get advice but the solicitor would not actually go in to court,
or the solicitor might give advice and go into court and speak for your son.
BUT it is FREE......

the £1200 cost of the solicitor he has spoken to would cover the cost of using a general solicitor, the fine, the cost of the drink Drive course and money to spare for bus fares for quite a while!
 
My only input here is, what sort of solicitor are you going to that costs £1000 for a guilty plea? I went to a local solicitor that my family had used in the past, she met with me beforehand to speak to me about the offence, she represented me in court and secured the drink driving awareness course and the lowest possible ban for me and she charged me £190 for that.

Shop around local solicitors. I have a few friends too that have all entered guilty pleas in court and have never paid more than £300 for their solicitor for doing so. Maybe legal representation costs less in Northern Ireland but I would certainly shop around.
 
I’ve called a few solicitors and the cheapest one for a guilty plea is 1000 plus vat some were 1250 plus vat? Don’t know where I’d find one so cheap
 
I wouldn't bother with a solicitor for a grand. That would cover the fine and the price of the drink driving awareness course. On hindsight my solicitor did very little, I would go in and enter my plea, apologize and ask for the drink driving awareness course.
 
Thankyou for your advice grice96 do you still think after reading the story it wouldn’t give him a better chance in court with what might happen? Your advice is much appreciated
 
There's no way around the court guidelines, your son is facing a minimum of a 3 year ban for his second offence. I understand how your son is feeling, that was me last July. Completely devestated. I'm 23 now and I also blacked out when I drank until I went to rehab last August and now I have been sober for a year and 5 months. If your son blacks out often please advise him that he needs help with his drinking.

I would say that he should get a character witness who writes a glowing report of your son's character, write a good apology and represent himself in court. Read the apology and ask for the drink driving awareness course for 25% off the ban. No sense paying 1k+ the fine just to be represented for 15 minutes.
 
Hi Lou,
I was in court for first offence on Monday.
There is no point having a solicitor for guilty plea, save your money for the fine.
I am so remorseful, I hate myself but I wrote a letter to the court explaining how much this will affect my life in a negative way. The usher gave it to the magistrates who did read it but it had no bearing on my sentencing.
Let us know how you all get on x
 
I’ve still got a good solicitor as it’s his 2nd offence if only to get him community service instead of a hefty fine plus the allowance of doing the rehabilitation course to reduce his ban which we know is going to be 3 years, I feel I can’t risk not going without a solicitor to help him as much as he can, he’s not good at public speaking and is still devastated. I feel it will give him a bit if confidence that he needs right now! On the plus side he’s no had a drink since even last night at a friends leaving party nye all his mates were there so that was a testing time for us, as it’s scared him so much and made him realise his life has got to change he was in a rut and thought he was invincible he starts his counselling next week also that’s hes asked for.
 
The issue of having a solicitor is a choice for your son to make, but I hope you have not opted to spend £1200 on one, to try to reduce the fine which is likely to be (unless he earns a lot of money) in the region of £200-400 and get offered a place on a Drink Drive Rehabilitation Course which the magistrates will usually offer anyway if he has not done one... and would almost certainly offer if he asks for it himself.........
if you have it sounds like you have gone with the classic solicitor pitch: “Look how bad this could be, so you need me..... see what a good result I got you,...... it was not as bad as I predicted .....so I have earned my money.”

As has already been advised, any half decent solicitor, with no specialist knowledge of drink driving because that is not needed for a guilty plea, , could put forward mitigation for him at a cost of no more than £300 or so.
 
Don't waste your money on a solicitor; unless there's a possibility of serious jail time.

From what I gather drink driving cases are extremely difficult to fight. Unless you're extremely rich and £1000 is a drop in the ocean feel free. But I would advise otherwise.

He doesn't have to speak in court, write a good letter to present in the magistrates; included within it that he'd like the option to take the rehab course.

I was in the same boat looking for solicitors but I felt they were simply trying to give me false up and essentially trying to sell to me.

With myself already spending £600+ on a fine, adding £1,000 on top would've been an injustice given that I received the lowest possible outcome by myself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Enter code DRINKDRIVING10 during checkout for 10% off
Top