Drug driving awaiting court summons

Convicted Driver Insurance

BigTone

Member
Right so last year I had been pulled over and they could smell cannabis so they drug tested me, I failed the test in the very last few seconds and was taken to the police station.
They performed the blood test on me and told me they’d hear from me soon and let me go.

However, I called up my solicitor regarding what happened the next day and it turns out by law they are supposed to ask you if you want a sample for your own testing. Now, I had no idea about this and they did not ask me or present me with a separate sample taken from the initial blood test.

My solicitor then told me they have some grounds to fight for, I was told to wait for a court summons in the post and then call him up once it had arrived. Fast forward to today, it’s been over 5 months since the day I was pulled over and I haven’t heard anything or any letter in the post.

What are the chances that I won’t be charged?
Any help or previous experience will be highly appreciated, cheers folks.
 
BigTone said:
Right so last year I had been pulled over and they could smell cannabis so they drug tested me, I failed the test in the very last few seconds and was taken to the police station.
They performed the blood test on me and told me they’d hear from me soon and let me go.

However, I called up my solicitor regarding what happened the next day and it turns out by law they are supposed to ask you if you want a sample for your own testing. Now, I had no idea about this and they did not ask me or present me with a separate sample taken from the initial blood test.

My solicitor then told me they have some grounds to fight for, I was told to wait for a court summons in the post and then call him up once it had arrived. Fast forward to today, it’s been over 5 months since the day I was pulled over and I haven’t heard anything or any letter in the post.

What are the chances that I won’t be charged?
Any help or previous experience will be highly appreciated, cheers folks.
Click to expand...
In addition to this, I was very polite to the officers as well as at the police station, they did not put me in cuffs or anything of sort.

Also, while I was awaiting my blood test one of the officers had assured me this may take a while due to the pandemic.
 
The police have 6 months to lay the information before a court office and request a summons, This can sometimes be served 3-4 weeks later so you still have some time to sweat yet.
If they have not applied for the summons within 6 months, they cannot apply after that and you are off the hook, even if you were over the threshold.
Some officers are lazy and if the result comes back under, they do not bother contacting the poor driver to put him out of his/ her misery. BUT do not contact the police at the moment to enquire, you may have been over, the result lying forgotten in a basket and when you ask, it gives them time to apply for a summons!
You will have to have patience for another few weeks........
 
price1367 said:
The police have 6 months to lay the information before a court office and request a summons, This can sometimes be served 3-4 weeks later so you still have some time to sweat yet.
If they have not applied for the summons within 6 months, they cannot apply after that and you are off the hook, even if you were over the threshold.
Some officers are lazy and if the result comes back under, they do not bother contacting the poor driver to put him out of his/ her misery. BUT do not contact the police at the moment to enquire, you may have been over, the result lying forgotten in a basket and when you ask, it gives them time to apply for a summons!
You will have to have patience for another few weeks........
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reply, so it seems I still have a month of restless nights.

I’ve been looking around at other peoples experiences for the same situation and they’ve gone ahead with pleading guilty. This is only once they’ve received the letter, they’ve also mentioned not to bother with a solicitor as it’s only a chance that I could win the case and have all charges dropped.

I’m just not sure if it’s even worth it to go through solicitors, as they advised me it’s worth fighting the case as they didn’t give me my sample for private testing.
 
They don’t have to ‘give you’ a sample, they just have to ‘offer you’ a sample. People often say ‘no thanks’ when they are offered one of the samples and don’t remember this afterwards.
You could write to the police station where you were detailed and request a copy of your custody record and the video of the drug driving process (if they still have this, some recycle the videos after 2-3 months) and see for yourself what happened with the samples.
You just give your name address and date of birth, together with the time and date you were in custody and you are entitled to request these things. A solicitor doesn’t have t be paid to do this for you.
 
BigTone said:
Thank you for your reply, so it seems I still have a month of restless nights.

I’ve been looking around at other peoples experiences for the same situation and they’ve gone ahead with pleading guilty. This is only once they’ve received the letter, they’ve also mentioned not to bother with a solicitor as it’s only a chance that I could win the case and have all charges dropped.

I’m just not sure if it’s even worth it to go through solicitors, as they advised me it’s worth fighting the case as they didn’t give me my sample for private testing.Do noth
Click to expand...
 
Hi buddie,sit tight for the next few weeks,and hope you don't contact you.if you phone them you may be opening a can of worms.the next month will fly bye.if your over the limit,deal with it then.from my drug driving experience it's best to plead guilty I spent over 7k on a well known motoring firm for sweet fa but I was desperate.all the best.
 
neebob200 said:
Hi buddie,sit tight for the next few weeks,and hope you don't contact you.if you phone them you may be opening a can of worms.the next month will fly bye.if your over the limit,deal with it then.from my drug driving experience it's best to plead guilty I spent over 7k on a well known motoring firm for sweet fa but I was desperate.all the best.
Click to expand...
Yeah it’s just a waiting game, last month to go, fingers crossed
 
Willjoed said:
How many weeks over the 6 months did you find out? Did you get blood results back in post?
Click to expand...
It was at the end of the 6 months, literally the end of April. In the same letter it stated my blood test results and that I was under the limit NFA
 
Nathanb199 said:
Does this mean they couldn’t have prosecuted anyways even if you was?
Click to expand...
They have 6 months to get a court summons and send a letter out to you if you are over the limit. After the 6 months you’ve got to wait an extra 2-3 weeks as it takes 2 weeks to get it granted by the court.
After 7 months if you don’t receive anything you should be clear, they won’t get in contact with you to tell you that you’re clear.
 
Robbie19 said:
Iv been waiting ten months ad no correspondence from them
Click to expand...
This just means they’ve forgotten it and left it behind them, some cases they won’t even bother to let you know that you’re NFA’d. It’s a shame because it leaves the individual stressing out, you’re good it’s been 10 months! Time to celebrate!!
 
BigTone said:
This just means they’ve forgotten it and left it behind them, some cases they won’t even bother to let you know that you’re NFA’d. It’s a shame because it leaves the individual stressing out, you’re good it’s been 10 months! Time to celebrate!!
Click to expand...
Not yet, he is in Scotland and the limit for proceedings starting is 12 months…..
 
BigTone said:
This just means they’ve forgotten it and left it behind them, some cases they won’t even bother to let you know that you’re NFA’d. It’s a shame because it leaves the individual stressing out, you’re good it’s been 10 months! Time to celebrate!!
Click to expand...
I wish iam in Scotland they got 12 months to bring charges
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Enter code DRINKDRIVING10 during checkout for 10% off
Top