Mitigating Drink Drive Offences
Nottingham solicitor Lauren Fisher shows that instructing the right advocate to mitigate your drink drive case on your behalf can make a real difference to the outcome of your case.
The first case was one of driving with excess alcohol. The attention of the police was drawn to the car as it was being driven at speed and in an erratic manner and almost collided with the police vehicle. When breathalysed Lauren’s client gave a reading of over three times the legal limit.
The sentencing guidelines for this offence can be found here.
Despite a starting point for the driving ban of between 23 and 28 months. Following careful mitigation the disqualification was brought down to the minimum of 12 months. The client was offered the Drink Drivers Rehabilitation Course which, if successfully concluded, will reduce the disqualification to 9 months.
In a second case, Lauren represented a client who faced an allegation of failing to provide a specimen of breath for analysis. This was against a background of three previous convictions for driving with excess alcohol.
The circumstances of this offence were that the defendant had been identified as the driver of the vehicle after a collision. He smelt of alcohol, had glazed eyes and slurred speech. Instead of providing a specimen at the scene he became verbally abusive and tried to leave the vehicle, eventually being restrained. He again refused to provide a specimen at the police station.
The sentencing guidelines are to the found here. Owing to the circumstances the client apparently fell into the most serious sentencing bracket with a starting point of 12 weeks custody. Lauren’s presentation of the mitigation available to her client persuaded the Magistrates to instead place the offending into the bottom category of sentence and, notwithstanding her record, her client received a £120 fine.
Legal aid is available for drink drive offences which means that Lauren’s representation was free of charge to these clients. We will advise you on your eligibility.
