done for drink driving
Discussion
Hi all! I was done for drink driving on friday night. Had had a few glasses of wine, at home, and then suddenly panicked that I had not locked the back door of my work premises. didn't think I was over the limit, and didn't want to walk round as it is on main drag to a nightclub etc - it's only minutes away from where I live and I soooo wish I had walked! Anyway, 5 mins later am arrested and on way to distant police station. Locked in a cell all night etc. I know I deserve it, but my question is: I have never driven drunk before (honestly!) and I am single mum and am so gutted as I will not be able to drive my little boy to school etc. do you think the magistrates will give a stuff about that, and is it worth getting a solicitor, or would it be more effective to just say my piece when I'm in court?
I think it would be helpful if you could share further information. Namely:
1. Why were you stopped and breathalysed in the first place?
2. Exactly how far over the limit were you?
My mother is a former magistrate, and from her accounts, it is pretty much impossible to avoid a ban, as a 12-month ban is the mandatory minimum. The only case she could remember was one of a lady in her eighties who had been teetotal her entire life and was put over the limit by a sherry trifle at a Christmas party. She was allowed off the ban due to the extenuating circumstances, but they still had to formally convict her.
This website seems to have the information pretty much spot on, but as said elsewhere, get a solicitor.
1. Why were you stopped and breathalysed in the first place?
2. Exactly how far over the limit were you?
My mother is a former magistrate, and from her accounts, it is pretty much impossible to avoid a ban, as a 12-month ban is the mandatory minimum. The only case she could remember was one of a lady in her eighties who had been teetotal her entire life and was put over the limit by a sherry trifle at a Christmas party. She was allowed off the ban due to the extenuating circumstances, but they still had to formally convict her.
This website seems to have the information pretty much spot on, but as said elsewhere, get a solicitor.
guttedandcycling said:
Hi all! I was done for drink driving on friday night. Had had a few glasses of wine, at home, and then suddenly panicked that I had not locked the back door of my work premises. didn't think I was over the limit, and didn't want to walk round as it is on main drag to a nightclub etc - it's only minutes away from where I live and I soooo wish I had walked! Anyway, 5 mins later am arrested and on way to distant police station. Locked in a cell all night etc. I know I deserve it, but my question is: I have never driven drunk before (honestly!) and I am single mum and am so gutted as I will not be able to drive my little boy to school etc. do you think the magistrates will give a stuff about that, and is it worth getting a solicitor, or would it be more effective to just say my piece when I'm in court?
Single mum or not i honestly can not see you escaping a ban and fine.
guttedandcycling said:
They said I cut the corner turning into the business park.
60mg
60mg
Do you mean 60 Micro-grammes on the breath test? I don't know where the micro- character is to be found, but it is useful to differentiate from the blood alcohol legal limit of 80mg (milligrammes).
You said you had "a few" glasses of wine at home. How many is "a few", and how large were the glasses? 60 micro-grammes would make you 70% over the limit, which for a typical woman would probably mean you had consumed maybe 3-4 glasses not too long before driving? However, if you had last had a drink within a few minutes of driving, then your breath-alcohol limit would be artificially high. You can swill whisky round your mouth, spit it out and still register well over the legal limit.
Did they ask you when you had last had a drink? Was it within 20 minutes or so, and if so, did they wait before taking the breath test or alternatively perform a blood test at the police station?
If they tested you 40 minutes later at the station, then that would've been a "true" reading, so I can't see any loopholes - not that I would condone looking for one anyway, if you do think you really were over the limit.
The only thing I can suggest is abject contrition and apologies to the court. This won't get you off the ban and fine, but courts can easily add to the sentence if they think you're not taking it seriously, as I found out when pleading guilty to driving without due care some years ago by pointing out that the maximum fine would be less than the unrecoverable costs of a solicitor to defend the charge! Unsurprisingly, I got the max fine!
The only thing I can suggest is abject contrition and apologies to the court. This won't get you off the ban and fine, but courts can easily add to the sentence if they think you're not taking it seriously, as I found out when pleading guilty to driving without due care some years ago by pointing out that the maximum fine would be less than the unrecoverable costs of a solicitor to defend the charge! Unsurprisingly, I got the max fine!
Abject contrition I can do, as I regret this more than anything I've ever done in my life! Especially as having spent a night in a cell, I considered if I had injured someone, I could have ended up with many more nights in a cell, not to mention even more guilt etc. I am skint, so I will probably just say my piece and hope for the best and expect the worst.
Kermit power said:
I don't know where the micro- character is to be found,
assuming you are using XP .
Fire up character map.
On mine its under accesories>System tools>character map
otherwise search for charmap.exe
look for the micro character µ and click on it, you can then copy & paste,
alternatively some characters have an unicode code shown when you select the character.
eg pressing and holding Alt key while typing 0216 on numkeypad with NUMLOCK on0216 gives you Ø,
so to use the terminology alt +0216 = Ø
likewise alt + 0223 = ß ,
alt + 0229 = å,
alt +0177 = ± ,
alt +0189 = ½
hope that random selection helps and shows what is possible.
FiF
Edited by Flat in Fifth on Tuesday 8th May 21:04
Forums | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff