201 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

Convicted Driver Insurance

Juliem12

New Member
I am attending court on 25/11/2020 I am so frightened I accept I will lose my licence. I stupidly drove my car and wrote it off as I hit a bollard the only thing I am relieved is that I never hurt anyone. I have had a clean licence since passing my test in 1985 until this. I have been having counselling for alcohol and anxiety issues through my GP with I access nhs trust which stared 2 weeks after the accident. I have sought advice from a solicitor and not really sure if I need her as I believe I will be looking at a 17 to 22 month ban. She has proposed to ask I do a drink drive rehabilitation course and also a community order? But I’m already doing similar through nhs. Please I’m getting so confused and don’t know what to do.
 
Juliem12

Welcome to the forum.

What I will say first is that no one came to any harm. You are not the first to commit a drink driving offence and you are definately not the last. Most of us on this forum have been where you are now.

The bad news is that you have been unfortunate that your blood reading was 201 - anything at 200 or above means you fall into the HRO category (like myself). That means you will need to pass a medical towards the end of your ban to get your licence back.

The other grim news with being a HRO is that you pass the threshold for probation intervention from the Court. You might be looking at a community service punishment or some sort of rehabilitation course. If you want to message me privately - I'll explain what happens in more detail, as I've had first hand experience of the Probation people.

The Court date is actually not as bad as I thought. I wouldn't necessarily fork out money for a solicitor - if it is a straight forward 'guilty' plea I would get a couple of character references and write a letter of apology to the Court. Believe me, the Magistrates will take all this into consideration.

Like you said - you will probably be looking at a ban of 22 months (it could be slightly less or slightly more). When in the Court you need to ask the Clerk for permission to do the reduction course which will knock 25% off the length of the ban.

Finally - more importantly, have you made an appointment to see your doctor? If not, I would suggest getting this done ASAP. They may be able to prescribe something to help deal with the stress and anxiety.

CJ
 
Juliem12

Welcome to the forum.

What I will say first is that no one came to any harm. You are not the first to commit a drink driving offence and you are definately not the last. Most of us on this forum have been where you are now.

The bad news is that you have been unfortunate that your blood reading was 201 - anything at 200 or above means you fall into the HRO category (like myself). That means you will need to pass a medical towards the end of your ban to get your licence back.

The other grim news with being a HRO is that you pass the threshold for probation intervention from the Court. You might be looking at a community service punishment or some sort of rehabilitation course. If you want to message me privately - I'll explain what happens in more detail, as I've had first hand experience of the Probation people.

The Court date is actually not as bad as I thought. I wouldn't necessarily fork out money for a solicitor - if it is a straight forward 'guilty' plea I would get a couple of character references and write a letter of apology to the Court. Believe me, the Magistrates will take all this into consideration.

Like you said - you will probably be looking at a ban of 22 months (it could be slightly less or slightly more). When in the Court you need to ask the Clerk for permission to do the reduction course which will knock 25% off the length of the ban.

Finally - more importantly, have you made an appointment to see your doctor? If not, I would suggest getting this done ASAP. They may be able to prescribe something to help deal with the stress and anxiety.

CJ
Thank you very much for your advise it really is appreciated. I don’t think I will use a solicitor as you say I’m going guilty. HRO medical what do they do, blood etc? I am in the process of getting charter references I have told the man I work for, who is actually a retired magistrate who still wishes me to continue my employment with him, so I’m going to see if would do a character reference. But the end of the day I was totally irresponsible and shall face the consequences. Thank you again CJ.
 
Juliem12

Regarding the HRO process - it is a blood test known as CDT which should take place in the last three months of your ban.

There is quite a lot of detailed information about the DVLA CDT process on this forum so I won't bore you with the whys & wherefores.

You do need to show evidence of controlled drinking or abstinence prior to getting your licence back, so I would suggest contacting your GP and devising a plan of action - set your stall out now.

Good luck.

CJ
 
Good advice offered by people here.
I would just add that you should ask for the Drink a drive Rehabilitation course. It may duplicate some of what you are already doing, but completing the course takes up to 25% off your ban.
 
Hi if you look on this forum you will see tips on prep for court & HRO
Yes get character refs & also write a letter of remorse to read out or hand over
The course reduces your ban & can reduce insurance
Ask your current company for a letter re your no claims as most companies accept it up to two years
Lots on the forum some you will be shocked to read such as impact on travel overseas especially Canada
Read on prep for court first
Good luck there is lots of help on here
 
Couple of observations I made about court May help
This forum has lots of good points to help
Summary


Hi there are things to do Pre court
A) decide if you feel you can put a plea of mitigation to the bench - I got a solicitor just a local one cost £300 ish, he made the case - totally out of character etc
B) write a letter of remorse to the bench noting you could have caused a fatality etc
C) get some character refs to indicate out of character, to state they don’t see you as a drinker, etc I had some excellent ones from work plus ex colleagues there are examples to show them if what to write but they need to really know you & hold positions of authority/ respect.
D) if not been to court before I went for a dummy run that helped I sat in the witness gallery
E) someone to take you
F) finances there is a form you fill in at court I did mine in advance thankfully as I was wrecked in the day - we can signpost you the link
G) ask for driving course as it knocks off time have to ask Pre leaving court
I) now the hard parts -When you renew your house insurance you are asked re criminal conviction sadly DR10 is a criminal conviction so seek advice re the forum - I knew LV wouldn’t cover then went through a broker & got a better quote. Travel to Canada is not possible for 10 yrs & USA is hard
Car & house insurance you only declare for 5 years
Re car you may want a letter ready your NCB as can be transferred up to 2 years
DBS it will show mine will be non spent, depends on job but be honest at my company we have just dismissed someone who had a professional investigation against them & they didn’t say when they started it got picked up during an audit of professional quals I’m sure if she had been honest at the start she would have been ok

Final hard parts sorry : press you are likely to be in the local paper it may just be a line or if press are bored you could get featured - I did including photo, job ( high profile) ( I had done a press release to them years ago & clearly it had triggered my name in search. Nothing had been said re my job as was in character refs yet it got picked up.
This was hard as before it was on a need to know basis but work knew from day one & we’re supportive

But = you find out who your real friends are, you cope re travel ( apart from covid and can’t have lifts atm & discouraged from using local transport) & you walk tall
 
Juliem12

Welcome to the forum.

What I will say first is that no one came to any harm. You are not the first to commit a drink driving offence and you are definately not the last. Most of us on this forum have been where you are now.

The bad news is that you have been unfortunate that your blood reading was 201 - anything at 200 or above means you fall into the HRO category (like myself). That means you will need to pass a medical towards the end of your ban to get your licence back.

The other grim news with being a HRO is that you pass the threshold for probation intervention from the Court. You might be looking at a community service punishment or some sort of rehabilitation course. If you want to message me privately - I'll explain what happens in more detail, as I've had first hand experience of the Probation people.

The Court date is actually not as bad as I thought. I wouldn't necessarily fork out money for a solicitor - if it is a straight forward 'guilty' plea I would get a couple of character references and write a letter of apology to the Court. Believe me, the Magistrates will take all this into consideration.

Like you said - you will probably be looking at a ban of 22 months (it could be slightly less or slightly more). When in the Court you need to ask the Clerk for permission to do the reduction course which will knock 25% off the length of the ban.

Finally - more importantly, have you made an appointment to see your doctor? If not, I would suggest getting this done ASAP. They may be able to prescribe something to help deal with the stress and anxiety.

CJ
Everything you've said is good advice , just be careful what you say about your relationship with alcohol to your doctor because it could come back to bite you if you say you have issues with alcohol .
 
I live in Scotland and have been banned twice in 3 years. My current ban was for 36 months reduced to 27 with the DD Awareness Course.

I have also joined AA and find it therapeutic passing on my experience on this forum.

This probably won't help you much, but I've said it before and I'll say it again, sentences in England are much tougher than in Scotland.

I had a reading of 124 for my first offence (limit is 22) so was 6 times the limit, but only received a £400 fine and a 2 year ban. No Community Service. I ended up going to court after 3 nights in police custody, unshaven, holding up my trousers with one hand as they would not allow me a belt. I'm not sure just how much your actual appearance/demeanour matters to the judge/magistrate.

A couple of months after I received my licence back I began drinking again and was caught with a reading of 96, over 4 times the limit. This time I received a 36 month ban reduced to 27 with the Course and another £400 fine. Again no prison or Community Service.

I was also lucky enough that neither of these were picked up by the local newspaper. Thankfully I didn't crash and no one was injured.

Travel to Canada is out for 10 years from the date of your last conviction.

The USA would not be an issue, but there is a question on the ESTA that asks the following;

1624197513053.png

Now I don't know whether a bollard and damage to your own car would constitute serious damage, but you never know. There don't appear to be any questions regarding ANY criminal convictions and I have heard of other people on this forum going to the USA using the ESTA form.

Mexico I believe, is also off limits forever with a DUI conviction, but again, they have no way of checking this without input from yourself as they do not have access to the databases that record your conviction (neither do the USA or Canada, although someone may know different.)

Regarding Home Insurance and Contents cover, I am with Nationwide for both and once I became aware that this could be an issue, I contacted them and asked the question and was pleasantly surprised to discover that they would still provide me with insurance cover. In saying that my premium for this year has just gone up by about £50 including many years No Claims Discount, so perhaps something is going on.

I was insured by Admiral, and my NCB which I asked for says it is valid for 3 years, which will hopefully give me time to insure any new car I buy (although not with Admiral I imagine.)

So good luck on the day.
 
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