A harsh sentence?
Discussion
On another forum, I've come across the case of someone who has been sent down for 3 months for sleeping off a night drinking in the back of his car. He'd been out for the night with a friend who he was planning on staying with, but the friend deserted him for whatever reason. He was sleeping in the back seat of this car, and the keys were with him there - when the BiB found him.
Chap pleaded not guilty to drink-driving, and this all happened just before xmas. So it looks like an example was made of him.
No need to discuss the ins-and-outs of the law over this, we've done that enough times. But I am shocked at a 3 month custodial sentence for this.
Chap pleaded not guilty to drink-driving, and this all happened just before xmas. So it looks like an example was made of him.
No need to discuss the ins-and-outs of the law over this, we've done that enough times. But I am shocked at a 3 month custodial sentence for this.
Puggit said:
On another forum, I've come across the case of someone who has been sent down for 3 months for sleeping off a night drinking in the back of his car. He'd been out for the night with a friend who he was planning on staying with, but the friend deserted him for whatever reason. He was sleeping in the back seat of this car, and the keys were with him there - when the BiB found him.
Chap pleaded not guilty to drink-driving, and this all happened just before xmas. So it looks like an example was made of him.
No need to discuss the ins-and-outs of the law over this, we've done that enough times. But I am shocked at a 3 month custodial sentence for this.
Where was the car? And what were the other pertinent facts? Previous DD convictions no doubt...The devil's in the details...Chap pleaded not guilty to drink-driving, and this all happened just before xmas. So it looks like an example was made of him.
No need to discuss the ins-and-outs of the law over this, we've done that enough times. But I am shocked at a 3 month custodial sentence for this.
jdening said:
Where was the car? And what were the other pertinent facts? Previous DD convictions no doubt...The devil's in the details...
Very true - the other half of the prisoner has been advised to seek assistance from Pepipoo, but a) to tidy up her typing 
and b) disclose the full facts!Martin_Bpool said:
I've always wondered what i'd do in that situation.
I guess hiding the keys, under the bonnet somewhere or underneath a your seat but pushed in between the foam and the metal frame, and saying you don't have the keys is the best action?
Your sitting in a car drunk without the keys then you must be intending to steal it, with and you're intending to drink and drive. You cant win.I guess hiding the keys, under the bonnet somewhere or underneath a your seat but pushed in between the foam and the metal frame, and saying you don't have the keys is the best action?
I've heard its once you put the key in the ignition its considered driving so maybe thats what happened in this case.
I had to sleep in my car one night when I mate I was supposed to be staying with dissapeared and I couldnt sleep in his flat. I was very pissed but I had nowhere else to go (cant get a hotel room or a taxi at 4am)
I put the keys in the boot of the car and then went to sleep (bloody uncomfortable)
Was a breaking the law by doing this?
I felt that by putting the keys in the boot I had shown that I had no intention to drive.
I put the keys in the boot of the car and then went to sleep (bloody uncomfortable)
Was a breaking the law by doing this?
I felt that by putting the keys in the boot I had shown that I had no intention to drive.
Edited by Holst on Friday 11th January 14:53
Holst said:
I had to sleep in my car one night when I mate I was supposed to be staying with dissapeared and I couldnt sleep in his flat. I was very pissed but I had nowhere else to go (cant get a hotel room or a taxi at 4am)
I put the keys in the boot of the car and then went to sleep (bloody uncomfortable)
Was a breaking the law by doing this?
I felt that by putting the keys in the boot I had shown that I had no intention to drive.
You would still have been drunk in charge of the vehicle though.I put the keys in the boot of the car and then went to sleep (bloody uncomfortable)
Was a breaking the law by doing this?
I felt that by putting the keys in the boot I had shown that I had no intention to drive.
Edited by Holst on Friday 11th January 14:53
Also, how long did you (and everyone else who has done it) sleep for before you did drive again? I'd have thought that the police, if they caught you, must bear in mind that although you didn't intend to drive that night, there was a good chance that you would still be over the limit when you did drive the next morning.
In my area our CPS want the driver interviewed to prove intent, and one would like to think that this standard is pursued by CPS up and down the country. I would suggest that there must be more to this than what has been published,as in 18yrs of policing I have seen less and less in charges being brought in, and the ones that do and go to court they attract the same penalty as the basic drink driver over the limit, a 12 mth ban.
So, I am sure there is a lot more to this ie previous convictions along with aggravating factors,if not then this as you say very very harsh.
Stefluc
So, I am sure there is a lot more to this ie previous convictions along with aggravating factors,if not then this as you say very very harsh.
Stefluc
Derek Smith said:
Plotloss said:
How did they prove he had intent to drive?
The burden of proof is on the defendant to prove that he was unlikely to drive the vehicle.So the way the law is written, if you're sitting on a chair in your front garden, over the limit, with your car on the drive and the car keys in your pocket, you could be convicted?
Derek Smith said:
Plotloss said:
How did they prove he had intent to drive?
The burden of proof is on the defendant to prove that he was unlikely to drive the vehicle.flemke said:
Derek Smith said:
Plotloss said:
How did they prove he had intent to drive?
The burden of proof is on the defendant to prove that he was unlikely to drive the vehicle.So the way the law is written, if you're sitting on a chair in your front garden, over the limit, with your car on the drive and the car keys in your pocket, you could be convicted?
He got three months for a drunk in charge (by the sounds of it)? I.e. the maximum sentence hmmmm. What are the aggravating factors? Previous? Disqualified? What is the link to the other forum?
BiggusLaddus said:
Holst said:
I had to sleep in my car one night when I mate I was supposed to be staying with dissapeared and I couldnt sleep in his flat. I was very pissed but I had nowhere else to go (cant get a hotel room or a taxi at 4am)
I put the keys in the boot of the car and then went to sleep (bloody uncomfortable)
Was a breaking the law by doing this?
I felt that by putting the keys in the boot I had shown that I had no intention to drive.
You would still have been drunk in charge of the vehicle though.I put the keys in the boot of the car and then went to sleep (bloody uncomfortable)
Was a breaking the law by doing this?
I felt that by putting the keys in the boot I had shown that I had no intention to drive.
Edited by Holst on Friday 11th January 14:53
Also, how long did you (and everyone else who has done it) sleep for before you did drive again? I'd have thought that the police, if they caught you, must bear in mind that although you didn't intend to drive that night, there was a good chance that you would still be over the limit when you did drive the next morning.
In the morning I had one hell of a hangover and I took a taxi home then picked the car up later in the day once i had sobered up. I was in no state to drive and even if I didnt care about getting caught I would have been bloody dangerous.
Im allways very carefull about drink driving as my licence is important to me, but that particualr night I didnt have much choice other than sleep in the car. Only other choice was to sleep in the street and it was raining.
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