Facing court and potential driving ban - any advice?

interstellaflyer

newfoundglory wrote: »

I hate needles - but if the impossible had happened and I was found in your position - I would have taken the blood option. Why?

Blood must be taken by a police surgeon - if you blew a 44, by the time they had found someone to take your blood you would probably have been below the limit and then been able to defend any later charge with this evidence (if the charges were not dropped).
Ultimately, I think you made the wrong choice here.

"he asked about blood but said it was optional and if i rejected it it would not be a bad thing"

Sounds like the officer doing the breath test took advantage of the fact that the OP was fully co-operative and afraid of needles by talking the OP out of it, basically because on those figures he knew damned well that due to the extra time the blood test results would show under the limit.

Bravehearted_2

Would a conviction mean a criminal record? Probably yes?

Crazy_Jamie

bamme wrote: »

I am currently unemployed and in receipt of jobseekers allowance (wow i am really seeming like im a great success in life so far, right..). i therefore dont earn but am given £50/week to live. Would the fine therefore be £75? Would they take into account I was in receipt of this benefit or would this be something I'd have to explain to them?

Unfortunately the minimum relevant weekly income that can be considered is £100, so the starting point would be £150. You should, however, be aware that there is a range for the fine and there is discretion there. Realistically £150 would be a low fine for this sort of offence. If you do receive a fine around that level you should consider it a good result. You will be asked to fill in a means form at Court which will detail your financial position, and that will then be handed to the Magistrates, but there is no harm in mentioning that you are on JSA when you address the Court.

When you are fined the Magistrates will ask how the amount can be paid. If you can't pay it in full within 28 days or so, the Court can (and probably will) make an attachment to benefits order so that the amount is taken from your benefits automatically, normally at £5 a week. They will also make a collection order so that the Court can enforce the fine if you don't pay it (involving bailiffs and such on occasion), but you should be aware that this is normal, and realistically if you pay the fine there is nothing to worry about.

I see, thanks very much. I am nervous about any specific way to put forward this mitigation.. should i formally write it out first then read it?

It is entirely up to you. Read it out from a page if you want, or do it without notes. Whatever makes you more comfortable. The Court will be aware that you are not legally trained, and few people who are not legally trained speak well in Court.

i don't want to seem all "umm.;. umm.. but it wasnt my fault.." as that's not what i'd be trying to do, but i get the idea there are certain ways to speak in court and im notoriously bad at speaking or explaining when nervous or before writing things down.

are there specific things i should say or ways of speaking, or specific things - as i read on an advice site - to actually not say, cause they will have all been heard before and will irritate/aggravate things? (such as "i was breathalised before on this amount, and was fine, but have since lost a lot of weight" or "the police man said he didn't think i seemed drunk and let me go")

The reality is that your early guilty plea combined with your (hopefully) good character will put you in a good position to receive the minimum 12 month ban and a lower fine. I'm seen some of those online guides, and it is clear that many of them are written by people who actually have very little real experience of advocacy or otherwise being in Court. I would approach them with caution. You don't need to speak for long, and you will be fine talking more or less candidly given what you've written in your first post. I would go with something like this;

"First of all I would like to apologise. I did have a couple of drinks but I genuinely thought I was under the limit. I know now that I wasn't, which is something that I fully accept. I'm disappointed in myself that I've ended up here, but I also know that I've let down my father and grandmother who both rely on me to run errands for them using my car. Being banned means that I now won't be able to help them in the same way, especially as I'm due to go to university in September and would therefore have especially needed my car to travel back home. I will accept the ban and fine that the Court considers appropriate, and I will also undertake the alcohol course if it is offered. I can only ask that you take into account my guilty plea, good character, and personal circumstances, and are as lenient with regards to sentence as you can be. I can assure the Court that I won't be making this mistake again.

I have completed the means form, but I am currently in receipt of Job Seeker's Allowance so my income is £50 per week. *Hand forward means form*. If you have any other questions I'll obviously be happy to answer them."

Obviously you can feel free to tweak that and put in more information about certain things as you want. Even among lawyers everyone has a different style and would say something slightly different. Providing you don't say something obviously horrifically stupid you should be fine, but what I've written there is a good succinct way of doing it. If you wanted to just print that out and read it you'd be fine.

And, in my mitigation, must i straight up ask for the fine to be reduced?? or do i simply put across the points and wait for the judge to decide?

It will probably be three Magistrates rather than a Judge. They will be aware of the credit for a guilty plea, and how to take into account good character. If you're just honest, humble and accept the process you will be fine and evoke sympathy from the Court, which will give you the best result. Don't worry about knowing the intricacies of advocacy or procedure; you don't need to know that.

Again, is there a good or 'done' way to say this and plead guilty? Or do you just say what comes naturally to say..?

Just say what comes naturally, which will probably be the word 'guilty' and nothing else. Then sit down. There really is only one way you can do it.

Crazy_Jamie

Bravehearted wrote: »

Would a conviction mean a criminal record? Probably yes?

Definitely yes.

s_b

bamme wrote: »

I was shocked at the time (Id been breathalised previously and was fine after same amount) and same choice of alcohol) and didn't feel drunk at all.

if you had been pulled previously you flag as a case to be pulled again and the mirror was the excuse

Sgt_Pepper_2

s_b wrote: »

if you had been pulled previously you flag as a case to be pulled again and the mirror was the excuse

And you base that on what?

The say so of your mates down the auction?

s_b

Sgt_Pepper wrote: »

And you base that on what?

The say so of your mates down the auction?

experience in 1978
i was one of the first to be profiled for the new computer system set up at durham constabulary so that officers could confirm the driver by information stored (scars,eye colour,height hair etc)

Sgt_Pepper_2

s_b wrote: »

experience in 1978
i was one of the first to be profiled for the new computer system set up at durham constabulary so that officers could confirm the driver by information stored (scars,eye colour,height hair etc)

So how many times have you been pulled since you 1978 stop for a breath test?

s_b

Sgt_Pepper wrote: »

So how many times have you been pulled since you 1978 stop for a breath test?

i was pulled at least 15 times at least once a week,i left the county at the time to get away from harassment (it wasnt durham by the way but a different county where police had nothing to do all day back then )
now they are run off their feet with farm thefts and itinerants being shot

Sgt_Pepper_2

s_b wrote: »

i was pulled at least 15 times at least once a week,i left the county at the time to get away from harassment (it wasnt durham by the way but a different county where police had nothing to do all day back then )
now they are run off their feet with farm thefts and itinerants being shot

So what's the name of this sytem?