Second drink driving offence

[chris157g]

On Sunday I was pulled over and arrested for drink driving. I blew 98mg and I was told I was nearly three times over the legal limit, although I had only had a few cans that day I had been drinking heavily the night before, hardly had anything to eat and I am of a lean build.

This is my second drink driving arrest, the first being around six years ago. The court date is 1st September and I am unsure whether to hire a solicitor or just use the duty solicitor? I am not a hire earner, although I am employed I pay a large proportion of my wages on bills. I am also very worried about a possible custodial sentence, is this possible?

I had trouble when I was younger with police, mainly driving offences such as no insurance and driving while disqualified (of which I recieved 100 hours community service and completed an anti drink drive course). I have not been in trouble for the last 5 years. I feel like such an idiot, I am so careful not to drink drive because I know how dangerous it can be and dreaded another ban. I had some bad news the night before and it really messed my head up, I understand this is no excuse but is it worth telling the court/solicitor about?

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[SeanJoyceStephensons]

The sentencing guidelines are available here:
http://www.drinkdriving.org/drink_driving_sentencing_guidelines.php

At 98 in breath you can ordinarily expect a community penalty (unpaid work, supervision - possibly with requirements to take part in one of Probation's programmes such as "Drivers Impaired by Drink", or a curfew) along with a lengthy ban. This is based on the guidelines and MAgistrates can move up or down from the guidelines. Previous similar convictions aggravate the offence and can lead to a more severe sentence.
A second conviction for an offence that carries a mandatory ban (like drink driving, failing to provide or dangerous driving) within a 10 year period means that the minimum ban that the court must impose is 3 years. It can, of course be longer.

Every case is judged on its own merits and the court will listen to all the mitigation that is advanced by you or on your behalf which could help reduce the punishment (for example, this could mean a fewer number of unpaid hours) and keep the ban as close to the minimum 3 years as possible.

Hiring a good solicitor will enable you to properly prepare your mitigation. A solicitor can also look through the pages of prosecutione evidence that will be handed to you when you get to court and he or she can advise you about the strength of the case against you, about any potential weaknesses in the evidence and whether there are any grounds to defend the case or whether you are in fact doing to the best thing by pleading guilty early to get maximum credit and a reduced sentence and court costs as a result.

If you would like to talk to one of our experts about your case in general or would like to arrange legal representation you can do this by calling us on 08450020736. We can take the hassle out of arranging legal representation with our natiowide network of advocates to represent you in any court in the country.