blew 91

Convicted Driver Insurance

rmh101

Member
I was arrested on monday for drink driving. I went to pick my boyfriend up after work and one of his friends started to put vodka in my drink unknowingly to me, me and him had a massive argument so i just wanted to go home, i literally only drove around the corner and got pulled over. I blew 91, i’m only 22 and have only had my license for 4 months, this has truly broken me and i don’t know what to with myself, is there any advice?
 
I was arrested on monday for drink driving. I went to pick my boyfriend up after work and one of his friends started to put vodka in my drink unknowingly to me, me and him had a massive argument so i just wanted to go home, i literally only drove around the corner and got pulled over. I blew 91, i’m only 22 and have only had my license for 4 months, this has truly broken me and i don’t know what to with myself, is there any advice?
Hi... The best people to get the best advice from on here are... grice96.. or price1367. grice96 was spot on with the outcome i received... to keep it short and sweet i blew 107 and i received a 28 month ban.. 150 hours community service.. and £180 fine. you will also be classed as an HRO Which is High risk offender, so you will need to have a DVLA medical before they will issue you a licence. But like i said get in touch with the above names.. you can find them both in members.
hope it all goes well....
 
I was arrested on monday for drink driving. I went to pick my boyfriend up after work and one of his friends started to put vodka in my drink unknowingly to me, me and him had a massive argument so i just wanted to go home, i literally only drove around the corner and got pulled over. I blew 91, i’m only 22 and have only had my license for 4 months, this has truly broken me and i don’t know what to with myself, is there any advice?

For this defence to be feesible you would need to plead not guilty, the friend would have to come to court and testify that they tampered with your drinks and you had no knowledge that you were consuming vodka. That friend runs the risk of their name being in the paper as tampering with you drink if a court reporter is present, not something most people would want to put their name to. I would get some new friends if this one was so willing to create such a massive problem for you.

The prosecution would likely argue that with a reading of 91 you would have been visibly intoxicated and could not possibly have not noticed you were drunk. Also you say he tampered with your drinks, were these alcoholic drinks? If they were the chances are you may have been over the limit anyway just not a reading of 91.If you plead not guilty the court costs go up to £620 if found guilty plus the price of employing a specialist solicitor for trial which can approach on the thousands. If you plead guilty with a breath reading of 91 you will be facing a ban of 23-28 months, if you had no aggravating factors or crash and co-operated with the police your solicitor could secure a ban closer to the 23 month side of the scale. Then request the drink driving rehabilitation course to reduce your ban by 25% taking it down to just over 17 months. If you take this route you should pay no more than £300 for a solicitor to represent you on the day. You also will be a HRO which means you will face a medical in order to get your licence back. This is not the end of the world, I lost my licence at 22 and that seems like an age ago now. Keep your head up, court is the worst part and once it's over it's just a matter of getting the months in.
 
Hi... The best people to get the best advice from on here are... grice96.. or price1367. grice96 was spot on with the outcome i received... to keep it short and sweet i blew 107 and i received a 28 month ban.. 150 hours community service.. and £180 fine. you will also be classed as an HRO Which is High risk offender, so you will need to have a DVLA medical before they will issue you a licence. But like i said get in touch with the above names.. you can find them both in members.
hope it all goes well....
oh thank you! it’s just nice to talk to people as it does make you feel alone :)
 
oh thank you! it’s just nice to talk to people as it does make you feel alone :)
Your definitely not alone on here I wish I knew about it when I was at the beginning which is worst time I know but you will start to feel better soon all the best for court 🙂
 
Your definitely not alone on here I wish I knew about it when I was at the beginning which is worst time I know but you will start to feel better soon all the best for court 🙂
it just feels terrifying! especially because i just got my license ☹️ thank you so much!!
 
Rmh101,
I agree with Grice96, he sets your situation out nicely.
The spiked drinks defence can work (subject to the problems he pointed out) but not with you being over 2.5 times the legal limit. The court would take the view that you should have realised that you were impaired, it only really works when someone is only just over, or in one case I had on a drink drive course where a person was completely teetotal and had no experience at all of ever feeling what it was like to be intoxicated. I believed that her drinks had been spiked, and she just felt that she was coming down with flu, but she was on the course because the court didn’t believe her and had convicted her!
 
Rmh101,
I agree with Grice96, he sets your situation out nicely.
The spiked drinks defence can work (subject to the problems he pointed out) but not with you being over 2.5 times the legal limit. The court would take the view that you should have realised that you were impaired, it only really works when someone is only just over, or in one case I had on a drink drive course where a person was completely teetotal and had no experience at all of ever feeling what it was like to be intoxicated. I believed that her drinks had been spiked, and she just felt that she was coming down with flu, but she was on the course because the court didn’t believe her and had convicted her!
I understand that i’m going to be banned but it’s just so annoying when it’s not at your fault !! ☹️ just hope it won’t be for too long and pray it will go quickly!!
 
As a female, your reading showed you had about 8 units of alcohol in your system, which is almost a third of a bottle of vodka. 200ml.
That is a lot to be ‘slipped‘ in to your drinks without you realising and it is stretching credulity to claim that it happened any you didn’t notice, or notice the effects on you. It couldn’t have been all in one go.
 
Hello I was caught the morning after when it appeared I had additional alcohol in Diet Coke I was drinking which was had vodka in it. But as I knew I had drunk wine, therefore my choice, my decision to go to the party & more so to drive — I could not prove the vodka in the coke without witnesses etc I was advised just plead guilty, ask For course to reduce sentence & prep well for court. There are lots of pointers to help in this forum to prep for court but just accept what it is & that you will be banned. Fancy legal teams promise everything the cost is very high & will cover taxes when banned
But you are not alone toy probably feel the whole world is looking at you & life is a mess, yes it is a temporary mess once you have court behind you the clock is ticking
You have only been driving a few months so at least you know the bus routes etc
What I can say Is life goes on, but you will find out who your friends are. Lots of help on here so you are not alone
 
As a female, your reading showed you had about 8 units of alcohol in your system, which is almost a third of a bottle of vodka. 200ml.
That is a lot to be ‘slipped‘ in to your drinks without you realising and it is stretching credulity to claim that it happened any you didn’t notice, or notice the effects on you. It couldn’t have been all in one go.
no it wasn’t all in one go, we were there for over 5/6 hours, and i hadn’t ate food because i was meant to have it on the way home but i felt so unwell i just wanted to get home
 
Hello I was caught the morning after when it appeared I had additional alcohol in Diet Coke I was drinking which was had vodka in it. But as I knew I had drunk wine, therefore my choice, my decision to go to the party & more so to drive — I could not prove the vodka in the coke without witnesses etc I was advised just plead guilty, ask For course to reduce sentence & prep well for court. There are lots of pointers to help in this forum to prep for court but just accept what it is & that you will be banned. Fancy legal teams promise everything the cost is very high & will cover taxes when banned
But you are not alone toy probably feel the whole world is looking at you & life is a mess, yes it is a temporary mess once you have court behind you the clock is ticking
You have only been driving a few months so at least you know the bus routes etc
What I can say Is life goes on, but you will find out who your friends are. Lots of help on here so you are not alone
ah thank you!! that was so lovely !! yeah it’s just hard right now that’s the only good thing i haven’t been driving long so it’s not too drastic! its just the not knowing how long for, if i’ll have to redo my test etc ☹️
 
For this defence to be feesible you would need to plead not guilty, the friend would have to come to court and testify that they tampered with your drinks and you had no knowledge that you were consuming vodka. That friend runs the risk of their name being in the paper as tampering with you drink if a court reporter is present, not something most people would want to put their name to. I would get some new friends if this one was so willing to create such a massive problem for you.

The prosecution would likely argue that with a reading of 91 you would have been visibly intoxicated and could not possibly have not noticed you were drunk. Also you say he tampered with your drinks, were these alcoholic drinks? If they were the chances are you may have been over the limit anyway just not a reading of 91.If you plead not guilty the court costs go up to £620 if found guilty plus the price of employing a specialist solicitor for trial which can approach on the thousands. If you plead guilty with a breath reading of 91 you will be facing a ban of 23-28 months, if you had no aggravating factors or crash and co-operated with the police your solicitor could secure a ban closer to the 23 month side of the scale. Then request the drink driving rehabilitation course to reduce your ban by 25% taking it down to just over 17 months. If you take this route you should pay no more than £300 for a solicitor to represent you on the day. You also will be a HRO which means you will face a medical in order to get your licence back. This is not the end of the world, I lost my licence at 22 and that seems like an age ago now. Keep your head up, court is the worst part and once it's over it's just a matter of getting the months in.
yeah that’s what is upsetting me now is the fact i’m still waiting i just want a goal for the end! and no my drinks weren’t alcoholic, i haven’t drunk in a while because i had a nasty assault last time i did from 2 boys and ended up in hospital so i haven’t touched a drop after it
 
Hello. 😊. I blew 98, apologised in court and acknowledged my wrong doing. I got a 23 month ban and option to do drink awareness course which reduced it by 25%. I had to do 40 hours of community service and a 12 month rehabilitation order. The worst part for me was the court date. Good luck. It will get better. I have been back driving for a year now and can finally move on. Although at the time it didn’t feel that I would. Take care.
 
Rmh101, going back to your original post, you say you have only had your licence 4 months.
The new drivers act provides for people in their first 2 years to have to retake their test if they get 6 points or more. The good news is that this doesn’t apply because drink driving carries a straight ban and no points.
the bad news is that the magistrates could decide to order you to retake your test because you have only just passed and now committed a serious offence. It is a lottery as to if they decide to do this or not, some courts do it more often than others but you should be aware of that possibility.
Also you say this took place over 5-6 hours. This makes the spiked drinks even less credible because it means that your soft drinks would have to be spiked with up to 12 units, so 300ml of vodka. That is a hell of a lot to not notice!
You say you “felt so unwell, I just wanted to get home.” With hindsight you did not feel unwell, you were fairly drunk. As you had experienced his before, the court will conclude that you should have realised you were unfit to drive.

I am not seeking to be harsh with you, just pointing out the reality of your case.
 
Hello. 😊. I blew 98, apologised in court and acknowledged my wrong doing. I got a 23 month ban and option to do drink awareness course which reduced it by 25%. I had to do 40 hours of community service and a 12 month rehabilitation order. The worst part for me was the court date. Good luck. It will get better. I have been back driving for a year now and can finally move on. Although at the time it didn’t feel that I would. Take care.
It just feels like forever until the end is in sight right now☹️ did the ban go quickly for you etc?
 
Rmh101, going back to your original post, you say you have only had your licence 4 months.
The new drivers act provides for people in their first 2 years to have to retake their test if they get 6 points or more. The good news is that this doesn’t apply because drink driving carries a straight ban and no points.
the bad news is that the magistrates could decide to order you to retake your test because you have only just passed and now committed a serious offence. It is a lottery as to if they decide to do this or not, some courts do it more often than others but you should be aware of that possibility.
Also you say this took place over 5-6 hours. This makes the spiked drinks even less credible because it means that your soft drinks would have to be spiked with up to 12 units, so 300ml of vodka. That is a hell of a lot to not notice!
You say you “felt so unwell, I just wanted to get home.” With hindsight you did not feel unwell, you were fairly drunk. As you had experienced his before, the court will conclude that you should have realised you were unfit to drive.

I am not seeking to be harsh with you, just pointing out the reality of your case.
No i totally appreciate that! when i say it was vodka that’s all someone saw them put into one, we have no idea what substance they put into the others, i understand i’m not going to come away with nothing happening, it’s just worrying me that i don’t know the outcome. Is there any advice on what i can do help the situation or?
 
It is really out of your hands.
You can get a couple of written character references from an employer and someone of standing in the community to hand to the court, and if you can persuade them that your drinks were spiked to some extent. Whilst not amounting to a defence, it might persuade the magistrates to step down from the 23-28 month guidelines.
The reading of 91 would still stand though, so DVLA will class you as a high risk offender so you will need a medical at the end of the ban as Grice96 said.
Insurance will also be sky high for you at your age with no ‘no claims’ bonus and a Dr10.
The long shot is that you could get a solicitor on board (you would have to pay, as no legal aid would be available) and get him to assemble some evidence that your drinks were spiked (someone saw vodka being put in one drink?) then tell CPS that you accept that it does not
Amount to a defence but agreement should be reached on a lower reading for you to plead guilty to.
so long as you got the reading to under 88 you are in the Lower bracket for sentencing and there would be no medical.
Even if they refused, your solicitor could ask the court to consider this. That process at court is called a Newton Hearing.
Either way you tried this, it is not something to try yourself.
 
It is really out of your hands.
You can get a couple of written character references from an employer and someone of standing in the community to hand to the court, and if you can persuade them that your drinks were spiked to some extent. Whilst not amounting to a defence, it might persuade the magistrates to step down from the 23-28 month guidelines.
The reading of 91 would still stand though, so DVLA will class you as a high risk offender so you will need a medical at the end of the ban as Grice96 said.
Insurance will also be sky high for you at your age with no ‘no claims’ bonus and a Dr10.
The long shot is that you could get a solicitor on board (you would have to pay, as no legal aid would be available) and get him to assemble some evidence that your drinks were spiked (someone saw vodka being put in one drink?) then tell CPS that you accept that it does not
Amount to a defence but agreement should be reached on a lower reading for you to plead guilty to.
so long as you got the reading to under 88 you are in the Lower bracket for sentencing and there would be no medical.
Even if they refused, your solicitor could ask the court to consider this. That process at court is called a Newton Hearing.
Either way you tried this, it is not something to try yourself.
that is a good thought actually, i am in contact with a solicitor but i’m only 22 and the fees will be through the roof, so it’s just wondering how i’ll pay it off as well!
 
It just feels like forever until the end is in sight right now☹️ did the ban go quickly for you etc?
It is a horrible feeling I know ... once you have got your sentencing over and know what you are dealing with, just take a day at a time. Do the course to get that reduction and before you know it, it will be over. It’s just putting in place alternative plans for travel to work etc. Good luck. Just accept the punishment, learn from it and move on. I beat myself up consistently for a long time. Being a mother with a young child and being in my 40s I should have known a lot better. None of us are perfect and we all mess up. Good luck with court. 😊
 
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