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collision, never go home and drink. If the police arrive after a couple of hours it doesn’t matter if you have been drinking, the police are still entitled to arrest you and accuse you of drink-driving, and it will be for you to prove in court that you’ve been drinking afterwards.
I WAS ONLY SLEEPING IN MY CAR Q A
I’m a bus driver and I’m facing a charge of “being drunk in charge of a vehicle”. I’m not too sure what this means but the police found me asleep in my car after a particularly heavy night
after I lost my house keys. It was a Saturday night, the car was literally outside my house and I was waiting for my flatmate to get back on Sunday morning. I wouldn’t have driven until work Monday morning. How can I be prosecuted for drink-driving if I wasn’t even driving?
Being drunk whilst in charge of a vehicle is similar to drink-driving but is a completely different offence. Being in charge of vehicle means just that, that you were in charge of it. If
you were asleep and you had the key on you, it would be difficult to argue you weren’t in charge of it. The offence carries 10 penalty points or a disqualification. It is a defence if you can show that there was no likelihood of you driving the vehicle whilst being above the limit. So it’s very important that we get a witness statement from your flatmate to prove that he was going to be home Sunday morning to let you in, and also a copy of your work rota to show that you weren’t working until Monday morning. It may also help to get a toxicologist report to prove that by that time, the alcohol would have fallen below the limit. All of this will help to show you would never have driven whilst drunk.
OUR ADVICE: “Drunk in charge” is not a well-known offence and the only advice that we can give to prevent something like this from happening is that if you’ve had any alcoholic drinks, don’t go near your car until you are sure you will be below the limit.
I ASKED FOR A SINGLE BUT THEY GAVE ME A DOUBLE Q
I need help with a charge of drink-driving. A few weeks ago I was at the pub with friends who were drinking heavily. I wasn’t drinking much as I was driving home, so when they
were getting doubles I was only getting singles. We had four rounds before I left. When I bought a round I got myself a single, but I’ve since found out
PHTM NOVEMBER 2023
that my friends got me doubles. I didn’t notice at the time. I was pulled over by the police on the way home and I blew 45. At the police station I blew 40 and 41 - just over the limit. Is there anything I can do to avoid a ban?
A
As you accept you had drunk enough to put you above the limit, it would be right to enter a guilty plea. However, you may have a “special reasons” argument available which is where
somebody is guilty but there are special reasons for not disqualifying, e.g. speeding for a medical emergency. In your case, the special reason would be on the basis of laced drinks based on the fact that the alcohol you knowingly drank would have put you under the limit, and you were only over the limit due to the alcohol you unknowingly drank. To win we have to show: 1) That your drinks were laced; 2) That you did not know nor suspect that your drinks were laced; and
3) Without the additional alcohol, you would have been below the limit.
Firstly, we’ll need statements from your friends to confirm they bought you doubles without you know- ing. Secondly, we need to scrutinise why you did not know. Did you not feel more drunk than usual? Did you not taste the difference between singles and doubles? Thirdly, we will need an expert toxicologist report to ascertain if four singles you thought you drank would have put you under, and whether the only reason you were over was because of the extra three measures.
OUR ADVICE: Another point to consider is that the court will expect somebody to make enquiries of the drinks that they are having. If they are simply given an alcoholic drink without knowing what’s in it, the court will not accept that as a special reason. So if you are on a beer tasting course or at a wedding with welcome drinks, the court will expect you to ask how much alcohol you are having rather than turn a blind eye and simply hope you are under the limit.
For advice on motoring matters, email
advice@pattersonlaw.co.uk For regular updates on road traffic law follow us on
facebook.com/PattersonLawMotoringSolicitors or
twitter.com/Patterson_law_
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