Wondering what my likely sentencing will be? PLEASE help me.

[imanidiothelpme]

Hello,

On sunday the 13th I spent the day in town with a friend during which time I had one beer. When I got into my car I felt absolutely fine to drive but had some chugs out of a bottle of ginger beer. I suddenly felt incredibly not-okay - I hadn't eaten or drank anything throughout the entirety of the day and had taken a malaria tablet and told my friend I was going to pull over because something clearly wasn't right. I got to a busy junction (where people drive awfully and I'm always nervous anyway) where I had a massive panic attack and hit a car before a minor hit of another as I was so nervous.

I pulled over and got out the car to await the police who showed up in about a minute and I was breathalyzed. Taken to the police station and blew 99mg of breath and burst into tears, I was completely compliant and kept asking for a blood test as I was so confused as to why I had a high reading. I told the police I must have been spiked as there was no humanely way my reading could be so high. In the morning I realised my friend must have mixed alcohol with the ginger beer and forgotten, I had taken a large sip when I crashed to calm myself down and when we all waited for the police.

I have never had anything like this before, I've never even driven after a drink. No prior convictions and I've been driving for 2 and a half years without any issues. I just got back from volunteer work for gods sake and even the police and my solicitor noted this is massively out of character.

I'm on bail and I'm just wondering what everyone thinks - I have some mental health problems and I rely on my car tremendously as I live in a little village so getting to work is impossible and my social life has been destroyed thus throwing me into a deep depression. I'm terrified for my future and I can't get out of bed some days due to shame and I just don't know what to do.

What is my likely sentencing? Should I bring character references to court?

 

[Forum Moderator]

Hello,

On sunday the 13th I spent the day in town with a friend during which time I had one beer. When I got into my car I felt absolutely fine to drive but had some chugs out of a bottle of ginger beer. I suddenly felt incredibly not-okay - I hadn't eaten or drank anything throughout the entirety of the day and had taken a malaria tablet and told my friend I was going to pull over because something clearly wasn't right. I got to a busy junction (where people drive awfully and I'm always nervous anyway) where I had a massive panic attack and hit a car before a minor hit of another as I was so nervous.

I pulled over and got out the car to await the police who showed up in about a minute and I was breathalyzed. Taken to the police station and blew 99mg of breath and burst into tears, I was completely compliant and kept asking for a blood test as I was so confused as to why I had a high reading. I told the police I must have been spiked as there was no humanely way my reading could be so high. In the morning I realised my friend must have mixed alcohol with the ginger beer and forgotten, I had taken a large sip when I crashed to calm myself down and when we all waited for the police.

I have never had anything like this before, I've never even driven after a drink. No prior convictions and I've been driving for 2 and a half years without any issues. I just got back from volunteer work for gods sake and even the police and my solicitor noted this is massively out of character.

I'm on bail and I'm just wondering what everyone thinks - I have some mental health problems and I rely on my car tremendously as I live in a little village so getting to work is impossible and my social life has been destroyed thus throwing me into a deep depression. I'm terrified for my future and I can't get out of bed some days due to shame and I just don't know what to do.

What is my likely sentencing? Should I bring character references to court?

Upon conviction of driving with excess alcohol and a breath reading of 99mg sentencing guidelines suggest a medium to high level community order and a driving disqualification of between 23 and 28 months. The majority of first time offenders usually benefit from the opportunity to take the drink driving rehabilitation course which once completed can reduce any period of disqualification imposed by up to 25%. The fact that you were involved in a minor collision can only be seen as an aggravating factor.

As the level of alcohol in your system exceeded 87.5 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath you will be classed as a high risk offender. High risk offenders must satisfy the DVLA of their fitness to drive by taking and passing a DVLA medical upon expiration of their driving disqualification and before a driving licence will be issued.

Your breath reading is very high considering you claim to have only drunk one beer and a large sip of ginger beer (spiked or otherwise) . In any case the magistrates make the presumption that the alcohol level in your system at the time of testing was no less than the alcohol level in your system at the time of the offence. The onus is on the defence, if necessary, to try and prove otherwise.

Our guide to appearing at magistrates court for drink driving offences may prove useful to you. Let us know how you get on at court.

 

[price1367]

I must admit I find it hard to believe that your ginger beer made you over the limit.
a pint of beer is 2 or 3 units. Some, or all, of that would have left your system before you were breath tested at the station as you say you drank it some time before driving. Your reading of 99 is the equivalent of 14 units, which is half a bottle of spirits..... Impossible to get in "some chugs" or 'a large sip" of ginger beer. Depending on the timescale between you drinking the "ginger beer" and the station breath test, a lot of what you drank then may not have been absorbed into your system, but I'm sure that 20 minutes must have elapsed so mouth alcohol would not elevate the police station result. What has your friend said about the ginger beer? When did he put alcohol in it without you knowing and why was it not drunk during the day? Questions will be asked to cast doubt on your claim, which may then make the magistrates to consider a sentence at the higher end of the range that you have been given.
Mitigation is an important part of the case at court, but it has to be credible.
If you describe the events to the magistrates as you outlined, with a panic attack causing you to crash, then you may have some difficult questions to answer when you do your medical at the end of your ban because they will look at more than alcohol abuse as a reason to not give you your licence back. The malaria tablet would have no bearing on your reading.
The Police are not going to say that it was out of character, because they do not know you. They will say you smelled strongly of alcohol, you were excitable and confused, so yes, supply some character references as mitigation