9.5 months since being pulled and no summons or communication

[Taurus30]

Back in feb 2024 went out for a dinner not planning to drink stupidly decided to and planned to get a cab home but after quite a few and some very bad judgement decided to get in the car and drive home. Was pulled over about 1.30am doing 40 in a 30 I suspect the time was a big reason for them pulling me. Was asked if I’d had a drink I’d said a couple and they asked to do a breathalyser, I did and failed. Arrested, the local police station didn’t have a breathalyser so they drove to a neighboring borough to a station with one available. Breathalyser had a difference of 10 so they were unable to use the readings the first was 67 the other 57. So was asked to do a urine test to which obliged. Did the first which was discarded, did the second and they split the sample into two. I didn’t know until after that I could have requested a sample. After the sample which was done about 4.10am they kindly drove me home.
But to the point I have not heard a thing since it’s now been 9.5 months the police officers were very nice and the arresting officer said he’d contact me personally when the results arrived and it would be a wait but so far nothing and I know they don’t really have to contact me so not expecting that but I have not had results or a summons, I do not know who to contact as I don’t know which borough will now have the case or whether to even bring it to their attention. Praying for a miracle atm was such a stupid thing to do and to say I learnt my lesson is an understatement. Does anyone know when I should expect the summons to arrive? Has anyone received them so long after? Thanks in advance.

 

[Hobgoblin]

If you are in England or Wales, they have 6 months from the date of the alleged offence to 'lay papers' with the courts to prosecute you.

Sounds like they've forgotten about you and it's too late to prosecute (assuming you haven't changed addresses since then).

 

[Taurus30]

If you are in England or Wales, they have 6 months from the date of the alleged offence to 'lay papers' with the courts to prosecute you.

Sounds like they've forgotten about you and it's too late to prosecute (assuming you haven't changed addresses since then).

thank you for the reply. Yes I’m in England & I haven’t changed my address. I do hope you’re right, I’ve certainly learnt my lesson that’s for sure the waiting and worrying feels like a punishment in itself.

 

[C J 1980]

thank you for the reply. Yes I’m in England & I haven’t changed my address. I do hope you’re right, I’ve certainly learnt my lesson that’s for sure the waiting and worrying feels like a punishment in itself.

The police officer in the case (oic) has six months to collate a prosecution file where all the evidence is gathered and submitted for a final decision to summons. The officer has to 'lay' the information before the Magistrates before the six month anniversary of the offence date. Once the file of evidence is processed within the court system, the Magistrates do not necessarily have a specific time frame to summons you to court. It could be a few weeks or few months. I know the criminal justice system in England & Wales has a backlog at present with some people being bailed until 2026 for more serious matters that are referred to Crown Court. Therefore, just because it is 9 months since the offence, it does not necessarily mean you are in the clear.

CJ

 

[Hobgoblin]

It normally takes about a month after laying papers to get a summons. If they delay is so severe that after 3.5 months after the 6 month period you still don't consider yourself safe, it is safe to ask the police or the courts, as they can't retrospectively date the papers to less than 6 months (they would be breaking the law to do so).

 

[stuckininsurancehell]

Back in feb 2024 went out for a dinner not planning to drink stupidly decided to and planned to get a cab home but after quite a few and some very bad judgement decided to get in the car and drive home. Was pulled over about 1.30am doing 40 in a 30 I suspect the time was a big reason for them pulling me. Was asked if I’d had a drink I’d said a couple and they asked to do a breathalyser, I did and failed. Arrested, the local police station didn’t have a breathalyser so they drove to a neighboring borough to a station with one available. Breathalyser had a difference of 10 so they were unable to use the readings the first was 67 the other 57. So was asked to do a urine test to which obliged. Did the first which was discarded, did the second and they split the sample into two. I didn’t know until after that I could have requested a sample. After the sample which was done about 4.10am they kindly drove me home.
But to the point I have not heard a thing since it’s now been 9.5 months the police officers were very nice and the arresting officer said he’d contact me personally when the results arrived and it would be a wait but so far nothing and I know they don’t really have to contact me so not expecting that but I have not had results or a summons, I do not know who to contact as I don’t know which borough will now have the case or whether to even bring it to their attention. Praying for a miracle atm was such a stupid thing to do and to say I learnt my lesson is an understatement. Does anyone know when I should expect the summons to arrive? Has anyone received them so long after? Thanks in advance.

Hi... this happened to my husband. They had incorrectly taken the address when we moved. He continuously contacted them in regard to this incident. eventually a police man turned up at our home with an arrest warrant, approximately 10 months later.. utterly ludicrous! We had this impending doom hanging over us as though it was some kind of Sword of Damocles..incompetent note taking, unneccessary stress, and these fools are policing our country?! Chimps tea party comes to mind!

 

[Taurus30]

Hi... this happened to my husband. They had incorrectly taken the address when we moved. He continuously contacted them in regard to this incident. eventually a police man turned up at our home with an arrest warrant, approximately 10 months later.. utterly ludicrous! We had this impending doom hanging over us as though it was some kind of Sword of Damocles..incompetent note taking, unneccessary stress, and these fools are policing our country?! Chimps tea party comes to mind!

Oh my god that’s awful.

 

[Taurus30]

It normally takes about a month after laying papers to get a summons. If they delay is so severe that after 3.5 months after the 6 month period you still don't consider yourself safe, it is safe to ask the police or the courts, as they can't retrospectively date the papers to less than 6 months (they would be breaking the law to do so).

I’m not really sure who I’d contact, the station I did the test at or the station the arresting officers were actually from. I can’t remember their names either annoyingly.
I mean at the moment I still have a bit of hope that maybe by some miracle they haven’t laid papers in time I don’t know what’s worse calling and finding out beforehand that I’ll be prosecuted or finding the summons in your letterbox. I might just have to pluck up the courage and just find out you never know I may be able to breath a sigh of relief when I know what’s happening.

 

[Taurus30]

Just an update it’s coming up to 14 months and still haven’t heard a peep. Holding out hope that they ran out of time to lay charges and that’s why I haven’t heard anything

 

[Hobgoblin]

You haven't changed address during that time have you?

 

[C J 1980]

Just an update it’s coming up to 14 months and still haven’t heard a peep. Holding out hope that they ran out of time to lay charges and that’s why I haven’t heard anything

Some forum members would probably disagree with what I’m going to say here, but have you not made contact with the police or visited your local cop shop? After so long I’d be wanting an update - more for piece of mind or closure than anything else.

CJ

 

[Taurus30]

You haven't changed address during that time have you?

No im still at the same address, I’ve not heard a thing

 

[Taurus30]

Some forum members would probably disagree with what I’m going to say here, but have you not made contact with the police or visited your local cop shop? After so long I’d be wanting an update - more for piece of mind or closure than anything else.

CJ

I’ve actually been back and forth about whether to do that. I half just want to know if they’ve charged me to stop the uncertainty and the other half doesn’t want to call because if it’s bad news that’s my hopes dashed. No news is good news as they say.. well in some circumstances. I also don’t know who I’d contact because I was arrested in one borough but taken to another for the breathalyser/urine test as there wasn’t one available at their station so I don’t know which station would be looking after it. I could ring both i suppose but I also don’t want to bring attention to myself. Part of me thinks if they missed the deadline or wasn’t pursuing wouldn’t I receive an NFA letter?

 

[C J 1980]

I’ve actually been back and forth about whether to do that. I half just want to know if they’ve charged me to stop the uncertainty and the other half doesn’t want to call because if it’s bad news that’s my hopes dashed. No news is good news as they say.. well in some circumstances. I also don’t know who I’d contact because I was arrested in one borough but taken to another for the breathalyser/urine test as there wasn’t one available at their station so I don’t know which station would be looking after it. I could ring both i suppose but I also don’t want to bring attention to myself. Part of me thinks if they missed the deadline or wasn’t pursuing wouldn’t I receive an NFA letter?

You wouldn’t necessarily receive an NFA letter. The police may not prosecute you, but they may deliberately make you sweat by not notifying you! For summary only offences, the police have 6 months to lay the file before a prosecutor for the case to be heard in court. That means you don’t necessarily have to be summoned in 6 months, the court can take a few weeks to process the case before sending you a letter. However, after 9-10 months I’m inclined to think if they were going to summons you they would have done it by now.

CJ

 

[Hobgoblin]

You wouldn’t necessarily receive an NFA letter. The police may not prosecute you, but they may deliberately make you sweat by not notifying you! For summary only offences, the police have 6 months to lay the file before a prosecutor for the case to be heard in court. That means you don’t necessarily have to be summoned in 6 months, the court can take a few weeks to process the case before sending you a letter. However, after 9-10 months I’m inclined to think if they were going to summons you they would have done it by now.

CJ

It's 14 months now. I can't see a scenario where the OP would be charged.

Might be worth doing an online licence check to see if a conviction has occurred in absentia due to a notification cock up.

 

[C J 1980]

It's 14 months now. I can't see a scenario where the OP would be charged.

Might be worth doing an online licence check to see if a conviction has occurred in absentia due to a notification cock up.

How would a conviction occur when the defendant is unaware of it? Drink driving charges involve a visit to court. If the defendant has failed to appear at court the Magistrates would issue a warrant for their arrest. Taurus has mention he/she still resides at the same address from when they were arrested. I would think if this case is now in the court system Taurus should have had a knock at the door by now or even an official letter!!!!

I’ve actually been back and forth about whether to do that. I half just want to know if they’ve charged me to stop the uncertainty and the other half doesn’t want to call because if it’s bad news that’s my hopes dashed. No news is good news as they say.. well in some circumstances. I also don’t know who I’d contact because I was arrested in one borough but taken to another for the breathalyser/urine test as there wasn’t one available at their station so I don’t know which station would be looking after it. I could ring both i suppose but I also don’t want to bring attention to myself. Part of me thinks if they missed the deadline or wasn’t pursuing wouldn’t I receive an NFA letter?

You wouldn’t necessarily receive a NFA letter. The police would be responsible for this if the case has not reached the threshold for court. However, I’m sure the police don’t bother to notify people when this happens as it’s almost like prolonging the punishment and making you learn the hard way! Even victims of crime should be notified if their case is NFA’d but a lot of police forces are so stretched that this regularly gets missed too.

CJ

 

[Hobgoblin]

You can get convicted in absentia for other motoring criminal offences, such as speeding and no insurance, but not sure about DD.

 

[C J 1980]

You can get convicted in absentia for other motoring criminal offences, such as speeding and no insurance, but not sure about DD.

Probably not for drink driving as it is a criminal offence. Speeding and no insurance are traffic only offences so there is not necessarily the same powers available to the police and the courts to physically present you in front of the magiatrates.

CJ

 

[aliceblanchard]

my son had an accident 11th January police came and took him to hospital he blew over at scene. Had bloods taken 4 hours later and left to come home. Today he finally got a text of the police to say bloods back and they need him for a volunteer interview. He rang the police officer to sort this and he goes you can drive here and home we are not taking your licence, we will get you a duty solicitor and it may not even go to court any help with this please

 

[Xeronema]

He rang the police officer to sort this and he goes you can drive here and home we are not taking your licence

It's not the job of the police to take anyone's licence, so it sounds to me like they are just reassuring him. Sounds to me like his blood test results show that he was under the limit at the time they took the blood sample. As I said on your other thread, some time ago, if his BrAC was 48mg/100ml blood, he would most likely be under the limit by the time they got around to taking blood at the hospital.

No doubt the duty solicitor will tell him to 'no comment' the entire interview. Maybe the police are going to see if he'll admit to driving without due care and attention, or perhaps speeding - given that it was icy and his car ended up on it's r̷̷̷̷̷̷̷o̷̷̷̷̷̷̷o̷̷̷̷̷̷̷f̷̷̷̷̷̷̷ side.

I honestly believe he's in the clear. I doubt they'd be asking for him to come in for a voluntary interview had his blood test result showed him being over the limit.