6 Month summons question
Discussion
My sisters boyfriend got caught drink driving before christmas and they took some blood to test. about 6 weeks ago he got a letter from some test doctor saying it was about 10% over the limit but he has not heard anything about a summons. this seems a bit strange as i thought bib were quick to process drink drivers. i dont know if they have forgotten about this case but i think they have about 6 weeks left to do him for this offence!
Hardcore2000 said:
My sisters boyfriend got caught drink driving before christmas and they took some blood to test. about 6 weeks ago he got a letter from some test doctor saying it was about 10% over the limit but he has not heard anything about a summons. this seems a bit strange as i thought bib were quick to process drink drivers. i dont know if they have forgotten about this case but i think they have about 6 weeks left to do him for this offence!
It is usual practice to bail the person under police bail whilst the samples are analysed. They are given long bail dates of up to 6 weeks so that can be done.
If the blood/urine result comes back under the limit, they usually write to you cancelling your bail and informing you of no further action.
It is possible that a letter has been sent indicating that the sample is over the limit and the case will be continued through process or summons. This must be laid before a magistrate within 6 months of the date of the offence to come within the limit of statutory proceedings rules. If it is not laid then there will be no prosecution on the grounds the summons was not issued within time.
If your brother has failed to answer his Police bail (if he was bailed) he will be marked as wanted on the PNC and could be arrested at any time.
The summons has to be laid within the 6 month period but it does not have to be served within that time, it can be served years later as long as it is valid.
Your brother needs to find out the state of play because no news is not necessarily good news in this case.
i think you may slightly mis-understand. he was never bailed (in any shape or form) and asked to return at any later date. this is 100% sure. he did recieve a letter from the testers saying sample was positive but that was six weeks ago and nothing has been heard since. he was not bailed and is not on the run. all details he gave were correct.
gone said:
The summons has to be laid within the 6 month period but it does not have to be served within that time, it can be served years later as long as it is valid.
However, if it was served signigicantly later, without good reason, that would be an abuse of process. R v Brentford Magistrates ex parte Wong (1981).
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