Morning after the night before

Convicted Driver Insurance

Sally

New Member
Hi,

Our daughter was involved in a RTA yesterday that was her fault. She crashed into another car, probably speeding, failed breath test (62). No one injured thank god. She was taken to Police station, finger prints, DNA etc.. Released about 5 hours afterwards. She has a charge sheet and needs to appear at Mag court. What do we do? She is 20 and has had her licence just under 2 years.

There are 4 charges, the last 3 are licence/insurance/test certifiate - all those are in order and we suspect will be dropped once she has produced documentation?

Should we seek legal representation? What can we do to minimise the damage. We realise she will be banned, and looking at the info on here, band c, probably 17 - 22 months but agg circumstances with the crash?

There are no previous issues, never been inside a police station, clean licence, hard worker, good character.

I have loads of ?'s regarding her job, how long she will have a criminal record, who she needs to tell etc., Practical issues but emotionally, its awful. One day at a time.

She is and will continue to the pay the price for her stupidity:(

Any help/advice really appreciated.

Sal
 
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Re: Morning after the nght before

Hi,

Our daughter was involved in a RTA yesterday that was her fault. She crashed into another car, probably speeding, failed breath test (62). No one injured thank god. She was taken to Police station, finger prints, DNA etc.. Released about 5 hours afterwards. She has a charge sheet and needs to appear at Mag court. What do we do? She is 20 and has had her licence just under 2 years.

There are 4 charges, the last 3 are licence/insurance/test certifiate - all those are in order and we suspect will be dropped once she has produced documentation?

Yes. If she has insurance, driving licence, MOT etc then theres nothing to worry about on this front.

Should we seek legal representation? What can we do to minimise the damage. We realise she will be banned, and looking at the info on here, band c, probably 17 - 22 months but agg circumstances with the crash?

There are no previous issues, never been inside a police station, clean licence, hard worker, good character.

The crash will be an aggravating factor, her clean driving/criminal record etc will be mitigating factors.

Hiring a solicitor is a personal choice and depends upon specific factors relating to you and your daughter and each individual case. It can only help matters if you can afford it, a solicitor will be able to put forward a well structured plea of mitigation that could mean the difference between a 17 or 22 month ban.

I have loads of ?'s regarding her job, how long she will have a criminal record, who she needs to tell etc., Practical issues but emotionally, its awful. One day at a time.

Whether or not she needs to or wants to tell her employer about her conviction will depend on the nature of her employment and any contracts she may have with her employer.

Information about the Rehabilitation of offenders act and when her conviction will become spent can be found here.

Information about any endorsement she receives on her driving licence and how long they remain for can be found here.

Information about CRB checks and disclosing the convictions to employers can be found here.

You may find our guide to appearing at the magistrates court for drink driving offences useful.

Hope this helps. Let us know how you get on.
 
Re: Morning after the nght before

Hi Taylor,

Thank you

I will have a look at the links. She is coping better and coming to terms with the situation. This forum has been fantastic, full of useful information and not judgemental, as a family we cant thank you enough.


We have decided to hire a solicitor and try to offset the aggravating circs against the mitigating circs and hopefully provide some damage limitation. We are looking at a local firm who specialise in motoring offences.

We can only try and take the positives from this situation; the main one is that no one was hurt. Cars and money can be replaced eventually, people cant.

Just as an aside, we are all analysing our drinking now; I have driven to work the following morning after having the odd glass or 3 the night before. Reading some of the stories on here, I now know, that if I had been involved in an accident or been pulled over for whatever reason, hand on heart; I would probably be over the limit. It is a big wake up call for all of us.

I will post back after we speak to the solicitors and also after the magistrates case.

Thanks again,

Sal
 
Re: Morning after the nght before

Hello Sal

I sympathise with you, having been in the same situation - it was my 19 year old son who was convicted of drink driving nearly two years ago. I think few people realise the effect something like that has on the rest of the family. My son is now driving again after a 14 month ban but I still worry every time he goes out. Although part of me says "he wouldn't be stupid enough to do something like that again", I didn't think he would ever have been stupid enough to drink and drive in the first place, so I don't have too much faith in his judgement any more - which is sad, but inevitable.

Like you, I found positives from the situation; the outcome could have been so much worse and I was very, very thankful that we just had a conviction to deal with rather than a serious injury or death. It was that thought that got me through the first few days and sleepless nights. It ended up being a tough 14 months but we got through it, and you will too.

As you've already found, this forum is a great place for support and information. What a pity it's generally only read by people who have already made their mistake! It should be required reading for every driver.

Good luck with everything, and let us know what the outcome is.
 
Re: Morning after the nght before

Hello Sal

I sympathise with you, having been in the same situation - it was my 19 year old son who was convicted of drink driving nearly two years ago. I think few people realise the effect something like that has on the rest of the family.

Yes, it effects us all in one way or another and your heart breaks for the 'child' - but its life and its another lesson in letting them grow and make their own mistakes.

My son is now driving again after a 14 month ban but I still worry every time he goes out. Although part of me says "he wouldn't be stupid enough to do something like that again", I didn't think he would ever have been stupid enough to drink and drive in the first place,
felt exactly that way myself,
so I don't have too much faith in his judgement any more - which is sad, but inevitable.
Agree - we have to accept their not perfect :(

Like you, I found positives from the situation; the outcome could have been so much worse and I was very, very thankful that we just had a conviction to deal with rather than a serious injury or death.
Agree
It was that thought that got me through the first few days and sleepless nights.
Same
It ended up being a tough 14 months but we got through it, and you will too.
Thank you :)

As you've already found, this forum is a great place for support and information. What a pity it's generally only read by people who have already made their mistake! It should be required reading for every driver.

Our other children will be learning from this forum just as we have - so again a positive. But could not agree more, it should be part of the 'learning to drive' process and I know, ignorance is no excuse, but we have learned soooo much ourselves that will effect the way we view driving in the future.

Good luck with everything, and let us know what the outcome is.
Will do, solicitors this week and Magistrate next week

Can I ask you a few questions please Miss Marple?

Did you hire a solicitor?
Did your son qualify for legal aid?
Apart from both of us appearing with her on the day and showing due respect and remorse, are there any other things we can do to help?

Thank you for your post.

Sal
 
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Re: Morning after the nght before

Can I ask you a few questions please Miss Marple?

Did you hire a solicitor?
Did your son qualify for legal aid?
Apart from both of us appearing with her on the day and showing due respect and remorse, are there any other things we can do to help?
Sal

We didn't hire a solicitor. We did go and talk to one who gave us 30 minutes free advice, and I think it would certainly be worth you ringing round a few solicitors to find one who would do the same. In our case he said if you intend to plead guilty, there is really no point in wasting money hiring a solicitor; because there is the aggravating factor of an accident in your case it may be different. There is no legal aid available for drink-drive cases.

As soon as we got to court we asked to see the duty solicitor; we gave him the details of the case and asked him to speak in court on my son's behalf, to apologise and express his remorse etc. Having a professional to speak for you makes the court appearance a lot less nerve wracking! Again, the duty solicitor is free.

On the day of the court appearance, take a good book and plenty of change for the drink machine with you, as the more mundane (as far as they are concerned) cases like ours are often left right until the end of the day. Find the usher as soon as you arrive, tell them you have never been in court before and ask them if they would tell you exactly what to do and where to go. A lot of the people appearing in court on our day were obviously old hands and I think sometimes the ushers forget that not everyone knows the drill. Needless to say your daughter should dress smartly and be polite (you will be astonished at how some other defendants turn up!), and she should address the magistrates as "your worships". Her ban will come into force immediately so of course she will not be able to drive home, but she can carry on driving until the court appearance. If she is living somewhere where there is good public transport the ban will be inconvenient and expensive but not too bad - we live in a rural area where public transport is virtually non existent, which made it extra hard.

Getting the court appearance out of the way will be a great relief for you - then she can just get on with serving her time and looking forward to the day she is mobile again.
 
Update

We saw the solicitor this week, it went as expected. He outlined the expected ban and fine, again no surprises there and as per the guidance on here. The solicitor will put together a structured response/plea for the Mag court. My daughter will ask her employer to provide a character reference etc., I will update again after the Mag court hearing this week.

Sal
 
The court case is not as bad as you think. I had visions of standing in a dock and the judge telling me off before passing sentence etc when it wasnt like that.
The solicitor talks for you and all you have to do is make sure he/she has everything. I had two character references and a financial statement prepared but he didnt need to use any of it.
The session started at 10am and they heard about five cases before mine. My solicitor had told the prosecution that it was a guilty plea so she just gave the very basic facts with no judgement or anything. The judge asked if I had any previous convictions (which I didn't), my solicitor gave my plea of mitigation but that only lasted a few minutes because lets me honest, its hard to justify it and then the judge gave me the sentence. I was well over (86 blood) and got a 12 month ban and £300 fine as well as the option of the course to reduce.
I didnt choose to tell my family or work and although it is a struggle without my licence I accept it is my fault anf I am paying the price for a foolish mistake. I hold a position of responsibility at work and felt I had been punished enough without having people look at me or pass additional judgement.
The hardest thing was not being able to tell my family as I was concerned how they would react. I made a mistake but it doesnt change who I am. I had to wait six months from when the offence occured till my court date and I was so nervous the whole way through. I went through hell that period and without any support.

Good luck with the case but bear in mind that it is just one mistake and they need your support to get through this....
 
Re: Morning after the night before - court

Hi,

She received an 18 month ban reduced to 13 1/2 upon completion of the course. I think the solicitor was money well spent; she was looking at a ban of between 17 and 22 months and considering she was involved in an RTA the representation, structured plea and character references helped keep the ban down. Costs were £300.

Thank you again to everyone for your advise and support.

Sally
 
Hello,

I would like to say this has been a very informative feed. I currently have a court date for this Thursday and have found all the information on this site very helpful.

I blew 61 in the station and I was carrying 3 people in the car at the time, I think that is my only real aggravating factor. There was no accident and no one was injured.

The last 2 weeks waiting for my court date have been horrible however I only obviously have myself to blame.

I have learnt from this episode and it is something I will never be doing again.

thanks
 
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