Every year at Patterson Law we take on cases at Christmas where people have committed offences because of the extra pressures that the holiday season brings. Time is short, money is needed, and people often neglect their driving responsibilities to make up for it. This can be especially devastating for professional drivers when your livelihood extends far beyond Christmas day.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS OUTCOME
Below are some very real examples of how drivers have got themselves into trouble around Christmas time. We remind all professional drivers that no matter how financially or time pressured you are, never forget your licence!
Q
I need representation for an upcoming court hearing on the 12th January. I was having some drinks with friends who had been down for Christmas and hadn’t seen for a few years.
I was only meant to have a couple and then go home but I ended up having 7 or 8. Taxis were too busy so I sat in the car waiting, but fell asleep. I was woken up at about three in the morning by two police officers. They told me it was illegal to sleep in the car with the keys in the ignition. They were only there so I could have the heating on. I can’t remember exactly what I said, but apparently I told them that I was going to drive home when I woke up. At the station I blew 88 and 89. I’m an HGV driver and if I lose my licence I will lose my job and my home. Can you help?
A
Yes we can help, but it is not going to be easy. For that reading you will be at risk of either 10 penalty points or up to 6 months dis- qualification, either way it will be devastating
if you drive a heavy goods vehicle.
It is an offence to be drunk in charge of your car. On the face of it, you accept that. You were drunk and you were in charge of it, given that you were asleep in the car and the keys were in the ignition.
However, it is a defence to being drunk in charge of a vehicle if you can show that there was no likelihood of driving whilst you were above the limit. We can argue that you were intending on getting a taxi and were never intending on driving. But - even if you weren’t intending to drive, intention is different from likelihood. So it does not help that you told them that you would’ve driven when you were going to wake up as you may have still been above the limit.
78
Unfortunately the defendant was found guilty. He had given a breath sample at about 3:30am and experts’ reports showed that he wouldn’t have been below the limit until about 8:30/9am. The court found that it would’ve been entirely possible for him to wake up early in the morning and then drive whilst still above the limit. So even though he wasn’t intending on driving, it as likely that he would have driven had he woken up at 7/8am – so whilst still above the limit.
However after we put forward mitigation the court was persuaded to ban him for just 28 days, meaning he was able to keep his job.
Q
I was working some extra shifts over Christmas. I was super tired and while I was coming around a corner I clipped the back of a parked vehicle. The car owner wasn’t around so I
couldn’t give them my insurance details but a couple of people were watching so I did leave a note on the windscreen. I think I may have accidentally got my mobile number wrong though. This was just before Christmas, now it’s been over four weeks and the police have only just written to me asking me who was driving with a NIP. Don’t they have to do that within 14 days? Should I respond or shall I reject it out of time?
A
You cannot reject it out of time. The requirement to notify the registered keeper within 14 days does not apply where a collision has occurred. Either way, you must respond
nominating yourself as the driver, otherwise you will be committing an offence of failing to provide driver information. However, nominating yourself as the driver is not an automatic admission of guilt. You can nominate yourself as the driver yet still defend the substantive allegations against you.
After you have nominated yourself as the driver, it is likely the police will consider prosecuting you for driving without due care and attention, failing to stop at the scene of accident and failing to report an accident. They will accuse you of driving carelessly, because you hit a parked vehicle and of failing to stop and exchange details. If you do not exchange details then there is a duty to report the matter to a police station or constable as soon as possible, which you have not done either.
DECEMBER 2022 PHTM
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