Assistance with Drink Driving offence

[Mr. Magoo]

My wife, who is very remorseful about this, was over the limit leaving a pub car park to drive 300metres down a country road to reach home. She had had half a bottle of wine with a friend and someone in the pub called the police. She had not even left the car park and was pulled.

Now I am not making any excuses about said offence and the law will take its course. However I had just taken out an insurance policy for her in her name on the new car rather than as a named driver so she could build no claims for once.

Can I call the insurer (prior to her being charged) and change this policy into my name and have her back as a named driver therefore avoiding any future inflated premiums as a result of a Drink driving charge? Any advice welcome.

I'm not really up for debating the aforementioned indiscretion.

[Furry Exocet]

You'd still have to declare the drink drive prosecution as a named driver

[marshalla]

I predict that the word "fronting" will appear in several posts in this thread.

I also predict that even if you do change the policy you will still see an increase in premium as you have to disclose material facts about all named drivers.

[R60EST]

Surely a ban from driving is a certainty for your wife , so for the next 12 months at least you only need insure the car for yourself.

[KrazyIvan]

Mr. Magoo said:

Can I call the insurer (prior to her being charged) and change this policy into my name and have her back as a named driver therefore avoiding any future inflated premiums as a result of a Drink driving charge? Any advice welcome.

As said it wont really make any kind of difference due to the fact you will still be obliged to inform them that the named driver has a conviction.

That said 300 meters is easily walking distance, which I am sure she will do in future.

[Furry Exocet]

You'd still have to declare the drink drive prosecution as a named driver

[jimslops]

Mr. Magoo said:

My wife, who is very remorseful about this, was over the limit leaving a pub car park to drive 300metres down a country road to reach home. She had had half a bottle of wine with a friend and someone in the pub called the police. She had not even left the car park and was pulled.

Now I am not making any excuses about said offence and the law will take its course. However I had just taken out an insurance policy for her in her name on the new car rather than as a named driver so she could build no claims for once.

Can I call the insurer (prior to her being charged) and change this policy into my name and have her back as a named driver therefore avoiding any future inflated premiums as a result of a Drink driving charge? Any advice welcome.

I'm not really up for debating the aforementioned indiscretion.

No

You have to declare convictions of named drivers.

[ReedyAero]

R60EST said:

Surely a ban from driving is a certainty for your wife , so for the next 12 months at least you only need insure the car for yourself.

^^^ This

[LOGiK]

Mr. Magoo said:

My wife, who is very remorseful about this, was over the limit leaving a pub car park to drive 300metres down a country road to reach home. She had had half a bottle of wine with a friend and someone in the pub called the police. She had not even left the car park and was pulled.

Now I am not making any excuses about said offence and the law will take its course. However I had just taken out an insurance policy for her in her name on the new car rather than as a named driver so she could build no claims for once.

Can I call the insurer (prior to her being charged) and change this policy into my name and have her back as a named driver therefore avoiding any future inflated premiums as a result of a Drink driving charge? Any advice welcome.

I'm not really up for debating the aforementioned indiscretion.

Aside from the "why would you drive to a pub 300 metres away" and "was she intending to drive the friend home first", are you sure the police had the authority to issue a ticket on private land (assuming the pub owns the land) because I don't think you can be done for intention to drive under the influence of alcohol and she was not on a public highway at the time. (I could be wrong about that).

As for what you propose, if she is convicted following the alteration and is in an accident, the insurance company will look into it and see that the policy was changed following the offence date and that's going to give you problems because you're not acting in good faith.

I also understand that you're going to let things run their course but what you propose is an attempt at avoiding responsibility for her actions to an extent.

Also, considering the friend in the car and her having drunk (depending on her size, weight and alcohol consumption frequency) a reasonably large quantity of alcohol, I'd remove her from any and all insurance policies entirely. Driving while intoxicated is generally a problem because of a risk to pedestrians and other road users and is a selfish and avoidable act. In this case, I wouldn't consider it so much that as the distance is so tiny, however, the fact she had a stupid friend willing to be in a car with her and was willing to take this friend in the car is pretty terrible.

There, I've been a douche and a help, good luck with the process.

[Shaw Tarse]

Mr. Magoo said:

I'm not really up for debating the aforementioned indiscretion.

Good luck with that!

[Mr. Magoo]

thanks for confirming my thoughts in an unjudgemental and informative manner.

rgds

[Mr. Magoo]

not wanting to debate but for your guide being over the limit and in charge of a car on private property is an offence. There is no distinction between pub car park or M1.

There was no one else in the car.

She made the wrong decision because of the weather at the time. No excuse I know.

[Durzel]

It's not unheard of for Magistrates to take into consideration the distance travelled, however the reality is that barring a technical foulup she'll be looking at a mandatory ban of at least 12 months.

[LOGiK]

Mr. Magoo said:

not wanting to debate but for your guide being over the limit and in charge of a car on private property is an offence. There is no distinction between pub car park or M1.

There was no one else in the car.

She made the wrong decision because of the weather at the time. No excuse I know.

You're right, it's anywhere with public access. I had to look it up.

I guess it's a matter of bad luck here then, sorry

[Elroy Blue]

LOGiK said:

I guess it's a matter of bad luck here then, sorry

No. It's a matter of stupidity.

[LOGiK]

I'd say bad luck, I'm sure everyone here has got away with road offences they shouldn't have and a lot of people have probably got caught for things they don't feel they should have. I think the difference between luck and stupidity associated with things like this comes down to being discovered or not sadly.

All humans make mistakes

[maxxy5]

Your username is hilarious

[standardman]

I worked for a law firm quite a few years ago and can confirm that "Shortness of Distance" was in fact sometimes used to reduce the penaulty for drink driving.

http://www.drinkdrivinglaw.co.uk/drink_driving_def...

[standardman]

I worked for a law firm quite a few years ago and can confirm that "Shortness of Distance" was in fact sometimes used to reduce the penaulty for drink driving.

http://www.drinkdrivinglaw.co.uk/drink_driving_def...

[daz3210]

Not really a help to the OP, but say I had left my coat in the car on a pub car park, had several beers, then went to get my coat to walk home.

Am I technically guilty of 'drunk in charge'?