KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
in prison? I drive for a living and just want to make sure I don’t fall foul of the law.
A
However if there was no system in place, if the post was just ignored for months, then you may be better off pleading guilty and concentrating on presenting an exceptional hardship argument. When a person accumulates 12 or more points with- in three years, they will be put at risk of a six-month ban. But a ban is not inevitable. The courts can decide not to ban you if they believe that it would cause exceptional hardship. So if you pleaded guilty that is the argument we would concentrate on – explaining the implications that a ban would have.
Q A
How long a ban will I be looking at for driving at 120mph in a 70mph zone? I have a clean licence and no previous convictions.
This speed will be too high for a speed awareness course or a fixed penalty of three points and £100 fine. For speeds that high, the matter will automati- cally proceed to court.
At the court hearing the Magistrates will refer to their sentencing guidelines. In a 70mph limit: • For speeds between 71-90mph you would be looking at 3 points.
• For speeds between 91-100mph, you would receive 4-6 points or a ban of 7-28 days.
• For speeds of 101mph and above, the guidelines recommend either 6 points or a ban of 7-56 days, or even longer if they consider the speed to be ‘grossly in excess’ of the limit.
So ultimately you could be looking at a ban entirely at the discretion of the Magistrates. I would therefore advise prepar- ing mitigation. At that hearing you are more than entitled to present all of the mitigation surrounding the incident itself, the fact that it seems to be out of character considering you have no previous convictions and a clean licence, and also the effect a lengthy disqualification would have on you. With good mitigation we might be able to avoid a ban entirely or at the very least keep any ban to a minimum.
Q
I was looking at drink-driving punishments and wondered if I could confirm whether the following is true - that standing next to a car while over the limit can see you given a fine of £2,500 and three months
JANUARY 2022
The offence you are thinking of is called ‘being in charge of a vehicle with excess alcohol’. It’s slightly different to drink driving.
Drink driving is charged under section 5(1)(a) Road Traffic Act 1988. If guilty, the offender is banned for a minimum 12 months (longer for higher readings). For readings above 90 in breath, they are at risk of a community order (eg tag/curfew), for readings above 120 in breath, at risk of prison.
Being drunk whilst ‘in charge’ of a vehicle is charged under section 5(1)(b). If guilty, the offender receives a minimum 10 penalty points. They are only at risk of a ban for higher readings and would only be at risk of custody in the most severe cases (so very high readings or where there was a high likelihood of driving).
Being ‘in charge’ means that you are just that - ‘in charge’ of a vehicle. The most common example is where someone is stood by the car with the keys in their hand. We have seen people prosecuted in the past for going out to their car to get a pack of cigarettes whilst in their dressing gown!
You are no longer in charge if you relinquish charge – so give charge to someone else (by e.g. giving them the keys) or by locking the car and entering the pub or entering your own home (but, in the example above, if you leave your home and walk towards your car, you may become ‘in charge’ again).
It’s a defence to being ‘in charge’ of a vehicle if the offender can prove on the balance of probabilities that there was no likelihood of them driving whilst above the prescribed limit. So for example, we would defend the lady in her dressing gown by showing she was intending to stay and drink at home all evening, and wasn’t going to drive until the next day when she would have been below the limit. Usually, a toxicologist report is required to show that when you intended to drive the alcohol levels in your blood/breath would have fallen below the limit, and it is strongly recommended to get the support of witnesses who can corroborate that you were not doing to drive.
But if you want to make sure you’re not falling foul of the law, the safest option is not to go anywhere near your car if you’re drinking. Leave the keys at home and leave the car locked and secure.
If you need advice on motoring matters please email
advice@pattersonlaw.co.uk or for regular updates on road traffic law follow us on
facebook.com/PattersonLawMotoringSolicitors or
twitter.com/Patterson_law_
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