What Are The Penalties For Drink Driving?
Being in charge of a vehicle while intoxicated and over the legal blood/alcohol limit, without actually driving, can result in a license disqualification, up to 3 months in prison and a maximum fine of £2,500.
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Driving or attempting to drive whilst over the legal blood/alcohol limit almost always results in a minimum 12-month driving ban, a fine of up to £5,000 and up to 6 months in prison for serious or aggravated offences. It has to be said that in the majority of prosecutions it is extremely rare for a solicitor to stop a disqualification from driving from happening. There are very few opportunities for a drink driving solicitor to mount a successful "technical defence".
For those people who quite flatly refuse to give a sample of breath, urine or a blood specimen when asked could face a some what similar penalty.
The police under the current statute laws are able to request, at any time, a person to take a breath test. They also have the power to require a breath test if you are attempting to drive or driving in privately owned land which is accessible by the public. Currently, 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath is the prescribed alcohol limit which is equivalent to 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The request for a breath specimen must come from a uniformed officer with one of the following three conditions being satisfied:-
1. there must be good reason to suspect a person has consumed alcohol
2. the officer has reasonable cause to suspect a moving traffic violation
3. it has to be believed that the person who was driving the car was associated with the incident
Tags: breath, drink driving law, legal blood/alcohol limit, urine