Excess Alcohol & Drug Driving
Driving with Excess Alcohol
It is an offence under section 5(1)(a) Road Traffic Act 1988 for a person to drive or attempt to drive a motor vehicle on a road or public place with excess alcohol in their breath, blood or urine.
A driver convicted of driving with excess alcohol faces a minimum disqualification of 12 months, and depending on the volume of alcohol and previous record this can be considerably longer.
Drunk In Charge
It is an offence under section 5(1)(b) Road Traffic Act for a person to be in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or public place with excess alcohol in their breath, blood or urine.
Drug Driving
It is an offence under section 5A(1) Road Traffic Act for a person to drive or attempt to drive a motor vehicle on a road or public place when the level of a specified drug exceeds the prescribed limit.
We advise and represent clients facing drink or drug driving charges. This can be a very technical area of law and we are well placed to advise you given our team’s experience and knowledge developed over many years. Hine Solicitors are known for their scrutiny of prosecution evidence and can advise on any technical defences that may arise.
Excellent legal advice and representation is very important as there can be a risk of lengthy periods of disqualification and even imprisonment in more serious cases.
We have detailed experience of challenging the accuracy of prosecution evidence in this field and frequently work with leading forensic scientists in defending these cases.
Even in cases where there is no defence available or a guilty plea is advised, it is worthwhile having skilled legal representation as often the way mitigation is prepared and presented in Court can have a substantial effect on the penalty and period of disqualification imposed.
Special Reasons
In some situations, where there is no defence available to a defendant, it is possible to persuade the Court that due to the circumstances in which they found themselves driving, a period of disqualification should not be imposed. These are known as “Special Reasons”.
A Special Reason is defined in case law as being:
- A mitigating or extenuating circumstance;
- Not amount in law to a defence to the charge;
- Be directly connected with the commission of the offences; and
- Be one which the court ought properly to take into consideration when imposing sentence.
Special Reasons are very much fact specific but examples of when a Court has found them to exist are cases involving:
-driving in an emergency
-shortness of distance driven
-spiked drinks
If a Court finds a Special Reason to exist, it may use its discretion not to endorse the defendant’s driving licence with penalty points or disqualify.
If you wish to speak to a specialist lawyer about drink or drug driving, please click HERE.
