drink driving

[kevburner]

Hello ,

I'm seeking some advice for my 19 year old lad , he was out at the pub last night , got an uber home and then went back out on he's car to collect some girls that they had met earlier in pub , got pulled by the plod got reading of 87 roadside breathalyser , then failed to do the test at the police station , has been charged with failure to do the test , has now got a court hearing

me and the misses are absolutely livid with him , have always told him never to dd and have also told no matter what the time ring us if he gets stuck for a lift , but all this just seems to have by passed he's small brain , he come home at 11 this morning to scared to face the music , he never been in trouble before with the police always worked hard and been a good lad up until now

any advice will be really appreciated

[bitchstewie]

Assuming there's no medical reason I thought failing to give a sample was treated more harshly than blowing positive if you did?

[paddy1970]

This offence can carry significant penalties, including a driving ban, fines, and in some cases, imprisonment.

A solicitor can work to mitigate these outcomes.

[jonathan_roberts]

No advice other than at this point your role as a parent is to let him face the music.

[ChocolateFrog]

He's old enough to drive, he's old enough to face the consequences of his actions.

A work colleague managed to kill a pedestrian while DD so I don't have any sympathy, I'd not give them their licence back at all.

[vaud]

jonathan_roberts said:

No advice other than at this point your role as a parent is to let him face the music.

I'd help him find a lawyer...

[Tony1963]

A Quick Look on the net suggests:

“ The maximum possible sentence for failing to provide a specimen of breath is six months' imprisonment and an unlimited fine. However, depending on circumstances, many sentences involve disqualification of driving for a set period ranging from 12 months to 60 months.”

With that wide range of possible punishment, I’d be advising him to go straight to a solicitor and hope for something at the lower end. He has royally f****d up and his driving life isn’t going to be pleasant for a few years.

[kevburner]

he knows he's fked up , and me and the wife are fuming , cars already gone to grandads , and then will be sold , hes also got to face the music at work as he works in a gang as a labourer , and 1 of hes duties is driving the work van so he may get the gooner as well

its mad how my older boy is grade a student at uni doing really well , and we have my younger 1 whos not got 1 braincell, thinks hes invincible

[martinbiz]

paddy1970 said:

This offence can carry significant penalties, including a driving ban, fines, and in some cases, imprisonment.

A solicitor can work to mitigate these outcomes.

Why worry the OP more than needed, why mention prison, that is not going to happen for a first offence without any further aggravating factors

[kevburner]

yes i'm off work tomoz so will spend my day sorting out the legal side and getting advice , he said he was confused about the whole thing of not taking the police station test , i know its no excuse for what hes done but he does struggle with basic things sometimes due to having adhd

[iDrive]

A solicitor - a specialist one - is a must.

These may be useful;

https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/outlines/drin...

https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magi...

[119]

kevburner said:

Hello ,

I'm seeking some advice for my 19 year old lad , he was out at the pub last night , got an uber home and then went back out on he's car to collect some girls that they had met earlier in pub , got pulled by the plod got reading of 87 roadside breathalyser , then failed to do the test at the police station , has been charged with failure to do the test , has now got a court hearing

me and the misses are absolutely livid with him , have always told him never to dd and have also told no matter what the time ring us if he gets stuck for a lift , but all this just seems to have by passed he's small brain , he come home at 11 this morning to scared to face the music , he never been in trouble before with the police always worked hard and been a good lad up until now

any advice will be really appreciated

As others have said, no sympathy from and decent length ban hopefully.

[Fermit]

said:

he knows he's fuked up , and me and the wife are fuming , cars already gone to grandads , and then will be sold , hes also got to face the music at work as he works in a gang as a labourer , and 1 of hes duties is driving the work van so he may get the gooner as well

its mad how my older boy is grade a student at uni doing really well , and we have my younger 1 whos not got 1 braincell, thinks hes invincible

I think from what you say here, he will no doubt know he's dropped one big style. Parents mad at him. Lost his car. Possibly lost his job/income. Not to mention a day in court looming with what ever punishment that brings, and sky high insurance for however many years. All you can do is support him through this, as he's of an age where he needs to take account.

It never ceases to amaze me the fk ups us men can make in the name of chasing a bit of skirt.

[NFT]

Fermit said:

said:

he knows he's fuked up , and me and the wife are fuming , cars already gone to grandads , and then will be sold , hes also got to face the music at work as he works in a gang as a labourer , and 1 of hes duties is driving the work van so he may get the gooner as well

its mad how my older boy is grade a student at uni doing really well , and we have my younger 1 whos not got 1 braincell, thinks hes invincible

I think from what you say here, he will no doubt know he's dropped one big style. Parents mad at him. Lost his car. Possibly lost his job/income. Not to mention a day in court looming with what ever punishment that brings, and sky high insurance for however many years. All you can do is support him through this, as he's of an age where he needs to take account.

It never ceases to amaze me the fk ups us men can make in the name of chasing a bit of skirt.

Shame this played out like this, I've done silly things for opposite sex, putting them first and everything else on hold, thankfully drink driving was never one of them.

I do wonder though, was he not clearly told, refusing the test will have high consequences by officer/s? or that he could ask for the free and independent duty solicitor to have advice, but its best to do the test when asked to?

Hopefully a legal professional will comment soon.

Edited by NFT on Sunday 11th February 17:51

[markymarkthree]

Sadly it looks like taxi duty's for you, over the next 2 years then.

[iDrive]

NFT said:

Shame this played out like this, I've done silly things for opposite sex, putting them first and everything else on hold, thankfully drink driving was never one of them.

I do wonder though, was he not clearly told, refusing the test will have high consequences by officer/s? or that he could ask for the free and independent duty solicitor to have advice, but its best to do the test when asked to?

Hopefully a legal professional will comment soon.

Edited by NFT on Sunday 11th February 17:51

The Form the Officer/s complete as they go through the Evidential Sample process has a verbatim section which makes it *very* clear.

Most Evidential Test rooms are likely to be recorded for audio and video too

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

[redacted]

[fridaypassion]

Silly boy. I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon it is what it is and I think we've all done it when we were young. Thankfully nobody was hurt. My mate did something similar when we were roughly the same age he took his ban and hasn't reoffended since. Insurance wasn't impossible afterwards either. I seem to remember he got 9 months having attended a course to knock 3 months off it.

Failing to provide will not be looked on kindly but he's a young lad and a suitably grovelling court appearance might negate some of the wrath of the court.

[JulianHJ]

kevburner said:

yes i'm off work tomoz so will spend my day sorting out the legal side and getting advice , he said he was confused about the whole thing of not taking the police station test , i know its no excuse for what hes done but he does struggle with basic things sometimes due to having adhd

Neurodiversity may be something that his solicitor picks up on to use in mitigation, however there will be video footage of the Evidential Breath Test procedure, there's a form for the officer to follow and as you can see, it's very unambiguous. There's unlikely to be much wiggle room if his defence is "I didn't understand what was happening", particularly given the roadside reading.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

I'm glad he was stopped before he hit someone or crashed the car into anything to cause harm to her (or himself of course).

Too many end up in ditches, round trees etc trying to show off whilst drunk.

The drink drive procedure is very simple and straight forward.

I'd focus on just supporting him with learning from this.