The offence
Driving with excess alcohol is the most common type of drink driving offence and is the one that can have the biggest impact on your life due to the obligatory driving ban, which can only be avoided by acquittal or a find that there are special reasons for not banning you.
To secure a conviction in a drink driving trial, the police must prove that you drove a motor vehicle, on a road or other public place, and that you had more alcohol in your system than is permitted by law. Sounds simple but there are many things that can go wrong with the police case so it is always worth taking legal advice from an expert
Over the years, we have successfully challenged allegations by showing that the vehicle was not a motor vehicle, by convincing courts that the places our clients have been arrested are not roads or public places, by showing the our clients were not over the drink driving limit, and by proving that the police failed to conduct the breath, blood, or urine tests correctly. We have also successfully shown that our clients were not driving the vehicle prior to being stopped.
Winning a trial
There isn't nearly enough space to describe how you go about winning a drink driving trial on this page - you could write a book on the topic.
The key to defending any allegation of drink driving is to prepare, fully and thoroughly. You will need a solicitor who is on top of the facts in your case, and who understands the law. That solicitor will need to consider both the prosecution evidence and your account plus that of any witnesses you have.
Once you have got to grips with the evidence, your solicitor should be able to identify the point of attack and formulate a plan of action. For example, if the attack is going to be on whether the local is a road, then your solicitor will need to obtain evidence showing the place does not meet the definition of a road. If the plan is to attack the alcohol reading then they will want to obtain expert evidence regarding the operation of the machine and the conduct of the officers using the machine.
Only once all of this out of court work is completed are you ready to meet the opposition in the courtroom and persuade the court to acquit.
Sentencing
Before you make a decision on pleading guilty or not guilty, you'll probably want a good idea of what sort of sentence you will receive if you admit everything or if things go badly at your trial.
The sentence will depend on a few factors. First, your alcohol reading. Secondly, whether you have any previous convictions and the age of those previous convictions. Thirdly, the circumstances of your arrest, i.e. are there any factors that make the offence more or less serious.
The minimum driving ban is 12 months, unless you have a previous conviction within the past 10 years, in which case the ban is a minimum or three-years. There is no upper limit on the ban but it's rare to see more than 5 years in all but the most serious cases.
In addition to the driving ban, the court will impose the sentence proper. That will often be a fine, but is frequently a community order, and in the most serious cases can include a prison sentence.
See the table below for a detailed breakdown of sentences.
| Level of alcohol | Starting point | Range | Disqualification | Disqual if 2nd offence | ||
| Breath | Blood | Urine | ||||
| 36-59 | 81-137 | 108-183 | Band C fine | Band C fine | 12-16 months | 36-40 months |
| 60-89 | 138-206 | 184-274 | Band C fine | Band C fine | 17-22 months | 36-46 months |
| 90-119 | 207-275 | 275-366 | Medium level community order | Low level to high level community order | 23-28 months | 36-52 months |
| 120-150+ | 276-345+ | 367-459+ | 12 weeks imprisonment | High level community order to 26 weeks imprisonment | 23-28 months | 36-52 months |
If you are facing a court appearance and would like to speak to an expert motoring solicitor who has a wealth of experience mitigating drink driving offence then call Nick Diable on 01869 866 490 or visit our contact page.