Drink Driving The Morning After

Failing a roadside breathalyser the morning after consuming alcohol is more common than you might imagine. While there are several methods of calculating (approximately) when the alcohol will have left your body, because everyone metabolises alcohol differently, these are not failsafe methods of establishing if you are safe and legal to drive your vehicle.

Question:

I failed the breathalyser test in the morning after of the said date and showed 55 on the breathalyser. Can I argue to reduce the ban because it was the morning after and I hadn’t drunk anything that day?

How many points have you got on your licence from the last 3 years: none

How long have you been driving: 2 years

Dominic says:

I’m afraid that you are going to be at risk of a ban for at least 12 months in relation to this matter, whether you were drinking on that day or whether it was the morning after. No amount of mitigation will help you avoid the ban if you accept that you drove whilst over the limit.

Most people try to work out in their head roughly when they may be under the limit, however 2 units per pint and metabolising just one unit per hour is only a rough guide. How much alcohol you metabolise depends on what you have had to drink, what you have eaten, your height, your weight, your sex, and if you are on medication. Some people have a slow metabolism and other people have a quick metabolism. Some people might have a medical condition which causes alcohol to be eliminated faster or slower.

However ultimately all the courts will care about is whether you are above the limit or not. You can get on the drink drive rehabilitation course and reduce the ban down by 25% if the court agrees, but unless you advance a positive defence or special reason, the best you could ever hope for would be a 12 month disqualification being reduced by 1/4 if you complete the course.

Have you got a hearing date at court? I can help you if you would like representation at court. Tell me more about what actually happened? What was the purpose of the journey? If you have a positive defence case that we can advance then we might be able to avoid a disqualification that way.

However I would need to take far more details from you in order to establish whether we have got a case as we don’t want to enter a not guilty plea and tried to defend you unnecessarily. Ultimately by entering a not guilty plea we begin to lose credit in sentence and if you are then convicted after an unsuccessful trial, we will significantly lose credit in sentence. This means you will end up with higher fines, costs and surcharges, and potentially a longer disqualification. So it is vital that we establish the correct plea to enter.

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