Place: Harrogate Magistrates Court

Offence: Drink Driving

Defence: Technical Defence

Keep My Driving Licence Solicitors Part of Millars Solicitors made representations to the Crown Prosecution Service that there appeared to be no evidence of the defendant driving. It is an essential ingredient of the offence that the defendant is actually driving with excess alcohol. She accepted that she had consumed alcohol but this was after she had stopped driving. This is commonly referred to as a hipflask defence. In the circumstances, the Crown Prosecution Service withdrew the case against Miss W.

Place: High Wycombe Magistrates Court

Offense: Speeding / Totting Up penalty points on driving licence

Defence: Exceptional Hardship

Millars Solicitors represented Miss T before High Wycombe Magistrates Court.

Miss T had accumulated 12 penalty points on her driving licence and therefore faced the minimum period of disqualification of six months in accordance with the totting up provisions.

Miss T had extensive mitigation that was advanced by Millars Solicitors at Court.  She is a single parent and was concerned that she would not be able to take her children to school, and she would also face the prospect of not earning an income and she would be unable to travel to work in the event of a driving disqualification.

The Court accepted the argument presented and Miss T was not disqualified from driving in the circumstances.

A Forklift truck driver banned was caught for a 4th time drink driving has been banned from the road for 40 months.

The incident began when 27 year old Gary Prescott was seen driving erratically in the early hours of a Sunday morning.

Prescott was stopped by the police who noted that his speech was slurred and he smelled of alcohol. He was breathalysed and gave a reading of 54mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The current legal limit for drink driving in England and Wales is 35mg.

Appearing in court and admitting the offence of drink driving, the Magistrates heard that Prescott had been drinking with his girlfriend until around 10pm the previous night and went to bed.

He was woken at around 2.30 in the morning by a friend who said that his grandmother had fallen and needed help.

Prescott thought that as he had stopped drinking some time before he would be okay and agreed to drive his friend back to his grandmother’s house.

It was during this journey that the police pulled him over.

In sentencing, the Magistrates heard that he had been convicted of drink driving 3 times before. They also heard that during the commission of these offences he had been drinking heavily owing to the death of his grandmother.

Prescott, who is in full time employment, was banned from driving for 40 months, fined £300 and ordered to pay £85 court costs.

 

It has been reported that 4 drink drivers who were stopped within a period of 5 hours were all over the drink drive limit.

They may not sound too unusual, however, the worrying aspect is that all the stops were made at night and all the drivers did not have their lights on.

The incidents which all commenced at around 11.40 pm, started with police being called to a pub.

The reason for the call was that a drunk couple had headed towards their car and refused to leave their keys at the pub.

As the police were at the pub a blue Ford Focus car emerged from the car park and drove onto the road, driving very slowly with no headlights on.

Police signalled the car to stop but it carried on only coming to a standstill some distance away.

On approaching the now stationary car, PC Deborah Sands told the stated: “As we approached the driver, it was immediately apparent that he was heavily intoxicated from his demeanour and the smell of alcohol coming from him.

“He was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving and the female passenger was taken home. Both parties were extremely drunk and verbally abusive to officers.”

The arrested driver initially refused to give any personal details at the police station but eventually revealed that his name was Darren Johnson.

On being breathalysed at the police station he gave a reading of 97mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit in England and Wales being 35mg.

After pleading guilty to the offence of drink driving, he was sentenced to a 24 month disqualification and 11 hours of unpaid work.

3 further motorists were stopped for the same reason with the next 5 hours.

In light of these offences, Sergeant Phil Badman stated: “It goes without saying that being under the influence of drink or drugs can seriously impair your ability to drive. Typically, your reaction times are dramatically reduced, and the effects of your lack of judgement could easily lead to a collision.

“Worryingly, the motorists convicted in these cases were unable to operate even the most basic of facilities in their vehicles, which in turn brought them to the attention of police.

“It demonstrates that no matter how capable you think you are of driving with drink or drugs in your system, the chances are you are in no fit state to get behind the wheel.

“It also shows that we continue to stop vehicles throughout the year – not just during dedicated drink or drug-driving campaigns – for a number of reasons.

“Our advice, as always, is never to drive while under the influence. The consequences can be devastating and it’s simply not worth the risk.”

Drink Driver Drink Spiked

A Huddersfield woman has been banned from driving for 3 years after being caught drink driving twice in less than a month.

The driver, 29 year old Laura Crosfield told the court that she started drinking after her father was arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images.

The first offence took place when police saw her driving erratically. She was pulled over and breathalysed where she gave a reading of 62mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath.

Ms Cornfield was on bail for this offence when she was spotted getting behind the wheel of her car after drinking.

She was pulled over again and the time gave a breathalyser reading of 42mg of alcohol on 100ml of breath.

It should be noted that the legal limit for drink driving in England and Wales is 35mg go alcohol in 100ml of breath.

Crosfield told the court that their first offence took place after a male friend of hers spiked her drink.

She then told the court that the second offence took place after a customer bought her a drink in the Harrogate bar where she worked.

As well as being banned from driving, Ms Crosfield was also ordered to undertake 25 days of rehabilitative activities.

A man took his moped for a ride whilst he had been drinking fell off and broke his leg, a court has heard.

Police were on patrol when they came across the rider, Bartosz Opalinski, sat on the side of the road with his moped lying beside him.

He immediately told police officers that he had been drinking and after he was breathalysed it was discovered that he was 2 and a half times over the drink driving limit.

An ambulance had been called an the breathalyser test was administered whilst it was en route.

Mr Opalinski was taken to Yeovil District Hospital for his broken leg to be treated whereafter he gave a blood test. The result of the blood test showed that he had 204mlg of alcohol in 100ml of blood.

Following his guilty plea to the offence, Mr Opalinski was disqualified from driving for 20 months.

The ex England test cricketer, Alan Mullally has been convicted of his 4th drink driving offence following a car accident in Australia.

The court heard that Mullally was 5 times over he legal drink driving limit for Australia.

This was the 4th drink driving offence for Mullally within a decade and on this occasion the reading he gave was the highest in all 4.

Reports have stated that the accident occurred when Mullally was too drunk to properly turn into an alley and hit a wall and 2 parked cars several times.

His previous drink driving cases have included 2 offences in Perth, Australia and 1 in the UK

In sentencing Mullally at the Australian court he received a 36 month ban and a fine of $2,000.

Deep Regret of a Man Who Drank Then Drove

A drink driver who consumed 20 pints, took cocaine and then drove before being stopped by the police has told a court about his “deep regret” over the incident.

The 39 year old, Andrew Hammond had been driving heavily at the pub throughout the day before buying 3 wraps of cocaine.

Magistrates at Hull Magistrates’ Court heard that Hammond had fully admitted what he had done. He stated that he had had an argument with his girlfriend and smashed his mobile phone. He further stated that after drinking in the pub he released he could not call a taxi and decided to drive to a friends house. He was stopped by the police shortly after.

Hammond pleaded guilty to possessing a drug of class A, drink driving and driving whilst unfit through drugs.

Hammond told the court that he regretted what he had done.

“I’m sorry for what happened,” he told magistrates. “I deeply regret it.”

Hammond was fined £325 and disqualified from driving for 16 months.