Awaiting court. Please help and advise

[Pradeep.rana]

Hello everyone,

this is my first post and been going through websites all week. The posts in this website have been extremely helpful.

last week I was caught drink driving in Aldershot and been dreading about the court date which is next month. Haven’t been able to sleep much and appetite has lost. Haven’t been able to smile and laugh at all. Losing interest in everything and going into depression.
I was caught with passengers in the car and blew 67 in the police station. I understand I am looking to face driving ban of 17-22 months and fines. It was such a stupid thing I did that I will regret for the rest of my life.

i completed a safety awareness course when I passed the red light 6 months ago. I was not given any points. Do I need to mention this in the court? I have never been in contact with the law before this. My employer has told me I might lose my job but that will only be confirmed based on the hearing and they are not going to give me character references. I don’t know who I should ask character reference from. Even if I dont get sacked, I would have to quit because it takes 3 hours to get work from public transport

i am going to plead guilty and hope the ban will be on the lesser side.Will I get a duty solicitor? Will the duty solicitor read my mitigation letter and talk for me or do I need to talk myself. I am sure I will be a nervous wreck and will not be able to put words in a sentence.

Do you get any letters sent to home? I am planning on not telling my family about the offence. They tend to open my letters without asking me first.

can you please advice anything at all from your experience or knowledge. Sorry if this post all over the place.

 

[Recovered22]

You don't need to mention the red light safety awareness course in court as it is not relevant to your offence. The duty solicitor may be able to help you in court but they prioritise cases where there is a risk of a jail sentence and your case has no risk of jail as it is a first offence blowing 67, if the duty solicitor is free they will at least talk to you and explain what to do. I think not telling your family may not go well for you, there is a risk you will end up in the newspaper as I and many other posters in this forum did. My solicitor even asked the journalist present for a bit of discretion because I was in rehab trying to address my problems but freedom of press is more important apparently. Your family are also going to be questioning why you aren't driving.

If memory serves me right I got one letter confirming my court date, a letter from the public prosecution service confirming my sentence, a letter from the PSNI (police service NI) to confirm my ban, a letter from TTC about the drink driving awareness course and about 3 letters from my solicitor pertaining to the case.

 

[Medicine Man]

Hi Pradeep,

I can fully understand what you’re going through right now; we’ve all been through the process at some point. Having been there myself and come out at the other side, it all seems like the end of the world now, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

You are right in thinking that your breath reading will put you into the bracket of 17-22 months. This is pretty much non-negotiable (but the key word there is “guidelines”) and the Magistrates don’t tend to stray from them too much. As this is your first offence and there isn’t any big aggravating factors, then prison is off the cards.

You can either start preparing now by instructing a solicitor to do the groundwork for your case or just turn up on the day and ask the duty solicitor to represent you. There are advantages and disadvantages to each one, but if you know you’re going to be pleading guilty, then save yourself a few hundred pounds and go for the duty solicitor as there’s not really much that can be done other than mitigation. The one thing which can limit the damage is the DDRS course which you can either be offered an opportunity to attend or ask to be given the opportunity and this will reduce your ban by 25%. You need to get this sorted out in the hearing as once you walk out of the door, you can’t go back in and ask for it.

With respect to the actual hearing, it really isn’t as bad as you’re probably thinking it will be. Once you get into the room and things start rolling, it will be over in about 15 minutes if it’s a clear cut guilty plea. Make sure that you dress smartly on the day as this goes a long way and if you need to speak at all, make sure to maintain eye contact with whoever you’re speaking to. If you do choose to have a solicitor represent you, they’ll be doing most of the talking and you’ll only have to confirm your name, date of birth and take the oath. One big piece of advice from my experience is to turn up 30 to 40 minutes before your hearing and go up into the public gallery to see how things are done - it serves two purposes; one is to see what the layout is like and how the process goes, and it will probably calm your nerves as there are plenty worse cases going on than yours.

Without knowing anything about your background and employment, I can’t really say what your employer will do if you are given a disqualification. Some are understanding and some really just don’t care; only you can make that judgement.

If you need any help, feel free to give me a private message.

MM

 

[January]

Agree with Grace & medicine man,
I went to the court a week before case to check where it was, plus sat in on a case to get the feel for it
Couple of points
A) get a friend to go with you as it’s an awful day
B) I got a solicitor who spoke in my behalf
C) character ref are vital but need to be written to show how out of character & indicate your remorse
I waited from may until November for court due to a delay in blood results so my letters included the impact all this had on my which was & still is profound
If employer won’t write a ref - (which is unusual as they are not read out in court just given to the bench ) who else do you know ie clergy, charity workers, friends who are in good positions etc
D) yes the press can cover your case, letters I got 1 with summons to court, one post court & driving course then certificate post driving course
E) if you live with your family they have to declare that you have a criminal conviction when they renew their house insurance
F) basically if you don’t tell them they will wonder re your car, could see it in paper etc
G) telling people is hard I actually texted/ emailed some people - support from friends helped me so much - a few disappointed me
H) work was amazing but I have a long history with them & risen up the ranks so that was in my favour
I) driving course - they usually have an early bird rate & I did it ASAP - good thing with covid
J) you will need to fill out a form re all you earning, outgoing etc if you are going to lose your job or not be able to travel you may wish to resign as better than being sacked, also it would reflect on the fine that you have no wages
Hope this helps - I’m a year since I got stopped but due to court delay I don’t get to drive again until November
I have survived 6 months with no car obviously now in lockdown I’m home working so that’s easier
Best advice tell people you will find out who your friends are
Best advice after I ended up in the paper ( plus photo due to my job) walk talk & look the whole world in the eye
Hope this helps