My story.....so far - 2 pints and over the limit!

Convicted Driver Insurance
I'm not in any way denying the amount of alcohol in my blood/breath or trying to say that my alcohol level was increased with these drugs. The irony is that I have not drank since I started these tablets and was completely unaware of the possible effects.
It was my doctor that made me aware two days before my court date. I just felt (as did my wife) that the whole thing was so quick. A defence speach was minimal with little mention of hardship etc. I was given bad prior advice to plead not guilty and have adjournment, then have a solicitor get medical supporting evidence, but then told at court to plead guilty. I was really confused and unprepared, not having any letters of reference or apology.
I now think (as does my friend an ex copper) that I did the right thing.
If I was to give advice it would be to be prepared and write an apology and statement for the magistrates including any and all mitigating circumstances.

I Actually don't normally drive when I have to take the painkillers as I physically can't.
It was a complete hash up of a day ending with unintentionally driving and bowing to pressure ( albeit light hearted) from mates.

Brilliant site and forum.....if only I'd found it before.

john44
You are right about the bad advice to plead guilty, what you had was some mitigation to do with your circumstances, not the offence, so you were right to plead guilty.
You were right about the advice YOU offered..... Be prepared before the court day and
you are right that is is a brilliant site and forum.....!
 
Sorry, I honestly thought you meant 3 half pints of stella. Just a bit of banter and yes to be on the safe side, don't drink at all is the best advice to anyone.

Be careful with the Stella. I have always know that it's nickname was 'Wife Beater' but i heard another name for it on a course recently: "Stella act a ****" rather than Stella Artois. Seems very appropriate for the Friday and Saturday night brigade in our town. :D (forum rules seem to ban the word above, so you will have To Work AT what it should say. :rolleyes:
 
Today I have received the letter. My bail was cancelled and the reason is my sample is below legal limit.

Now I feel relieved from this burden but, I imagine what could have happen. I would like to share with you video clip, which I have found recently. I am 44 years old male - but i could not hold my tears, when I saw this.

[video=youtube;9vvDlDGxhIs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9vvDlDGxhIs[/video]

And a small tip for all of these who will have the time in the cell waiting for a doctor. Work out guys, use this time to work out, no matter what or how stupid you think you may look like. Alcohol will be clearing of your bodies much quicker so there is a chance you may be within legal limit. But for most of all:

NEVER SIT BEHIND STEERING WHEEL AFTER THE DRINK - NO MATTER HOW IMPORTANT IT MAY SEE AT THE TIME

please can you tell me what the video was please as I can't find it xx
 
I got pulled over new years morning. After being asleep at the mother in laws i woke up to my partner and her family still drinking, which wound me up we started argueing, so out of the spur of the moment i decided to drive home feeling ok as i had been to sleep.I got a mile down the road and was pulled, the police pulled me thinking my van was stolen as there has been alot of van thefts in the area i was in.They smelt alcohol and wanted to do a test, I blew two tests in the back of the car which failed so they took me to the station and i blew 68 and 73. I am self employed and im the sole earner at home as my partner is trainig, its going to be a nightmare to lose my licence. i wont be able to price work or even get my tools to work never mind do the jobs. Gutted, never been in bother with the police before. Its my first offence.

Has any body got any good advice that will help please, any thoughts appreciated
 
About 4 weeks ago, after a busy day where i skipped lunch I had an hour to kill before I had to do the usual kids run for football/scouts. I had been been out and about most of the day and decided to call into a pub for a quick drink.

AT about 6.45pm, two pints later within an hour I picked up one of my kids and dropped him off at his Scouts session. Heading for home which was only a couple of miles away, I approached a van coming the other way. Just I he was about level with me a motorbike tried to overtake the van, clipped my mirror and slid off into the hedge. Luckily the guy on the bike was OK. On paper it was his fault, but we will have to see.......

The ambulance arrived followed by the Police and having explained what happened I was invited to blow! - I Failed!

The Police officer was a surpised as I was that I failed, and after being read my rights I was whisked off to the police station.

At the station my breath reading was 42.

Because of the lowish reading I was given the option of a blood test. The test was taken at 9.00pm, I was interviewed on tape, fingerprinted, photo'd, and a DNA sample taken.

It had to be the most humiliating event in my life, but at least I wasnt handcuffed and/or locked in the cells!!!

I have to say that the Police Officer was very understanding, very professional and was equally surprised that I had failed the breath test.

I was bailed til the 10th June.

A further breath test at about 10:30pm gave a pass and I was taken back to my car and allowed to drive it home.

Anyway, 4 weeks later I have to surrender to bail at the police station tommorrow. I received a brief call from the police officer today to confirm that I was going to be there tommorrow, and when pressed he said that the blood test had come back above the limit (which i understand is 80).

I have accepted that I will receive a ban, hopefully the minimum, but the whole sorry affair has opened my eyes to the reality of drink driving. I always though that a couple of pints was OK. How wrong can you be!!!

I guess that not having anything to eat or drink all day was the main factor, but I hope anybody reading this can learn from my mistake. I stand to lose my Job (maybe), and if so struggle to support my wife and three kids.

LESSON LEARNT (ALBEIT A BIT LATE) !!!!!

I will post an update..........
How do you stand to loose your job? Do you have to tell your boss I was caught on Thursday night court date in 2 weeks do I have to tell my boss and if so why?
 
How do you stand to loose your job? Do you have to tell your boss I was caught on Thursday night court date in 2 weeks do I have to tell my boss and if so why?

Some jobs have it stipulated in the contract that getting a criminal conviction is gross misconduct.
Out of the 4 retail jobs I worked that was present in 2 of my contracts. Most of the time when you tell your boss it's fine, but if your boss hears from say a write up in the newspaper then that calls your integrity into question.

In my case I worked in a creche, I told my boss the day after I was arrested and they were fine with it. Told me that mistakes happen and that he was glad I was okay. After court I got a write up in the local paper about my crash and some parents of the children in my work threatened to pull their kids out if I was to continue working there. So I had to go. I've since got work in the same field.

Edit: just realised this thread is from 6 years ago, probably better to make a new thread if you want help.
 
Some jobs have it stipulated in the contract that getting a criminal conviction is gross misconduct.
Out of the 4 retail jobs I worked that was present in 2 of my contracts. Most of the time when you tell your boss it's fine, but if your boss hears from say a write up in the newspaper then that calls your integrity into question.

In my case I worked in a creche, I told my boss the day after I was arrested and they were fine with it. Told me that mistakes happen and that he was glad I was okay. After court I got a write up in the local paper about my crash and some parents of the children in my work threatened to pull their kids out if I was to continue working there. So I had to go. I've since got work in the same field.

Edit: just realised this thread is from 6 years ago, probably better to make a new thread if you want help.
How do I do that I just wrote that tis morning
 
Be careful with the Stella. I have always know that it's nickname was 'Wife Beater' but i heard another name for it on a course recently: "Stella act a ****" rather than Stella Artois. Seems very appropriate for the Friday and Saturday night brigade in our town. :D (forum rules seem to ban the word above, so you will have To Work AT what it should say. :rolleyes:

John

I don't know if this is true as someone told me this yonks ago - the phrase 'wife beater' comes from a Marlon Brandon film called 'A Streetcar Named Desire' where he gets very drunk and attacks his partner who is called Stella.

CJ
 
If you ever have the opportunity to attend the Drink Driving Awareness Course, you will be amazed a how little you know about alcohol, it's effects on your system and just how long it takes to clear your system.

I live in Scotland where the breath reading is on 22. This can be 'reached' with just one pint of normal strength beer (2 units.)

I can guarantee that everyone who has gone out for a 'good drink' on a Saturday night then woken up at 10.00 am on Sunday morning and nipped out to buy the Sunday papers and a bacon roll has driven whilst over the drink driving limit.

It's also not what drink you consume, but the strength of the alcohol in it.

So if you down 8 pints starting at 7.00pm on a Saturday night, the first pint won't start clearing your system until around 7.15pm and as it takes an hour on average (everyone is different,) it will take until 9.15 for the alcohol in that pint to be cleared. Then your liver has to start on the next pint (or pints,) that you have drunk in that 2 hour period.

You probably won't be safe to drive the Sunday afternoon.

I know. I learned this the hard way.
 
John

I don't know if this is true as someone told me this yonks ago - the phrase 'wife beater' comes from a Marlon Brandon film called 'A Streetcar Named Desire' where he gets very drunk and attacks his partner who is called Stella.

CJ
An interesting story, but that film is from the USA, and the nickname ‘wife beater’ is only really used in the UK.
I suspect it it more down to ‘a backstreet in suburbia’
 
If you ever have the opportunity to attend the Drink Driving Awareness Course, you will be amazed a how little you know about alcohol, it's effects on your system and just how long it takes to clear your system.

I live in Scotland where the breath reading is on 22. This can be 'reached' with just one pint of normal strength beer (2 units.)

I can guarantee that everyone who has gone out for a 'good drink' on a Saturday night then woken up at 10.00 am on Sunday morning and nipped out to buy the Sunday papers and a bacon roll has driven whilst over the drink driving limit.

It's also not what drink you consume, but the strength of the alcohol in it.

So if you down 8 pints starting at 7.00pm on a Saturday night, the first pint won't start clearing your system until around 7.15pm and as it takes an hour on average (everyone is different,) it will take until 9.15 for the alcohol in that pint to be cleared. Then your liver has to start on the next pint (or pints,) that you have drunk in that 2 hour period.

You probably won't be safe to drive the Sunday afternoon.

I know. I learned this the hard way.

Luna

On my course in 2019, we were given a scenario whereby a man drinks 6 x pints of 5% lager in his local pub between 9pm and 11pm, his last mouthful of lager was at 10.59pm as he leaves to walk home. The candidates on my course had to work together in small groups to estimate when the man would be legally safe to drive again the following day.

The results were that at 10.30am the following day, the man would be 'borderline' to drive his vehicle and the remaining alcohol wouldn't be out of his system until around 3.30pm.

Some of the candidates were quite surprised at the results from the exercise. There are genuine people out there who have been done for drink driving in the morning and are completely oblivious to how long alcohol can remain in your system.

CJ
 
Luna

On my course in 2019, we were given a scenario whereby a man drinks 6 x pints of 5% lager in his local pub between 9pm and 11pm, his last mouthful of lager was at 10.59pm as he leaves to walk home. The candidates on my course had to work together in small groups to estimate when the man would be legally safe to drive again the following day.

The results were that at 10.30am the following day, the man would be 'borderline' to drive his vehicle and the remaining alcohol wouldn't be out of his system until around 3.30pm.

Some of the candidates were quite surprised at the results from the exercise. There are genuine people out there who have been done for drink driving in the morning and are completely oblivious to how long alcohol can remain in your system.

CJ
Yep.

I too was surprised at the length of time it takes to clear alcohol from your system.

This needs to be taught as a module in High Schools to all 16/17 year olds as there were 4 young drivers on my course, some of whom had only just passed their test less than a year before.

I will re-iterate again.

Anyone who has 'good night' at the pub or round a friends house and then drives before mid afternoon next day has driven whilst officially 'drunk' and over the drink driving limit.

So next time someone has a go at you about it e/g in the pub, ask them what time they intend driving next day.
 
Yep.

I too was surprised at the length of time it takes to clear alcohol from your system.

This needs to be taught as a module in High Schools to all 16/17 year olds as there were 4 young drivers on my course, some of whom had only just passed their test less than a year before.

I will re-iterate again.

Anyone who has 'good night' at the pub or round a friends house and then drives before mid afternoon next day has driven whilst officially 'drunk' and over the drink driving limit.

So next time someone has a go at you about it e/g in the pub, ask them what time they intend driving next day.
I was caught morning after. I think it should be an element of the driving test & annual update with renewing insurance plus pubs put more in the drinks menu re units as the do with calories & food
 
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