Worrying about the court appearance

Convicted Driver Insurance

Sotonman

New Member
Good morning,

I was arrested last night for drink driving, I blew 58 at the police station. I made a big judgement error last night, normally I would of walked. I am really worried about appearing in court, idealy I would like some one to talk on my behalf and tell the court how sorry I am and how this is going to affect my whole family for the next few years. My kids love their days out with me, but this will now be limited which I feel very bad for them. I might have to demote my self or risk losing my job as I won't be able to get to work at five am or get across Southampton to do the school run as the bus takes too long. But demoting my self also may lead to losing my job as there are no positions available below me.

my main fear is I suffer from cfs. I can't do public speaking, the words get mixed up and I am scared I will say the wrong thing or not enough of the right thing to make a difference. I just need someone there to speak on my behalf but I'm heavily in debt and with Christmas around the corner I'm not sure I could afford the fees. What with a fine on top as we'll.

this is one decision is really going to affect me badly. I take so many people everywhere all the time. I can't even manage to tell anyone as I'm so ashamed.

I have had three points (sp30)removed last year other than that seventeen years of good diving. Also the first time I've ever been arrested for a criminal offence.

what are he chances of the court being lenient representing myself and what do I need to say or are there quite cheap lawyers around.

im also a personal licence holder and my company are thinking of putting me in for dps. Do I need to tell the court of this and how will it be affected

many thanks
adi.
 
With regards to cost, there will undoubtedly be solicitors who carry out general crime work who would be able to represent you for a significantly reduced fee. The best way of finding out who does this would be to call the Court that you are due to attend and ask which firms of solicitors regularly attend there. Do not ask them who they would recommend as they cannot do this, but you can get a list of firms who are likely to already have someone in Court that day, which can reduce the costs.

The other option is to wait until the day of the hearing and try and get the duty solicitor to represent you in Court. This will be reliant on the duty solicitor being able to represent you at the hearing, which will be dependant upon how many other cases are in Court that day.

As you may be aware, the Magistrates Sentencing Guidelines advise a 12-16 month disqualification and a Band C fine for your reading. The fine is means tested and therefore based not just on your income, but also your outgoing payments, the Court will also often allow you time to pay the fine if you are in financial difficulties. As this is your first offence you should be offered the drink drive rehabilitation course which will reduce the length of your disqualification by up to 25% upon completion.
 
Thank you, I will pop in personally and find out.

i am pleading guilty. I just want the mitigation right and will follow your advice.

But will being a personal licence holder mean they might likely give a ban at the longer end and how will it affect my licence going forward.

thank you

adrian
 
I'm afraid personal licence's are not my area of specialism, however my understanding is that a drink drive conviction should only affect your application for a personal licence, rather than any existing licence. If you were to re-apply for your licence for any reason the police would have the option to oppose your application and the licensing authority would then make a decision accordingly.

It may be the case that the Court take a negative view of the fact that you are a personal licence holder, however there is no obligation to volunteer this information to the Court. In any event it is far from certain that they would in fact take a negative view.
 
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