Going to court for drunk & disorderly - fine?

Sqem

Yellabowley wrote: »

This is a man who was drunk, was in his own words 'annoying a police officer' and was sufficiently close to the said Police Officer to have to be pushed away. On the face of it, it sounds as though the officer would have very little difficulty in explaining why he assaulted him.

Exactly, I should have been clearer in my initial post. I don't believe the officer was right in his actions, however I am pleading guilty.

[Deleted User]

Sqem wrote: »

The last conviction was failure to provide a specimen of breath.

Anyone else noticing a theme?

Growurown

I have no idea what the fine may be, however you should be able to show the court that you are experiencing financial hardship by providing them with an income and expenditure document and the fine can be paid off monthly at an amount you can afford.

As your income has dropped due to the last incident you could also ask the court to reduce the current fine you are paying to a more manageable amount.

asp746

because alcohol seems to be a theme it maybe that you may get a conditional discharge which is more serious than a fine in that if you come before the court again within a specific period of time then you will be dealt with for the original D&D, breaching the CD plus the new matter. Sadly you will still be landed with court costs and a victim surcharge tho.

With regards to your fines make sure you are paying an amount that you can afford, no good being a hero then missing payments only for the account to be passed to bailiffs. When you next go to court fill in a new expenditure form and explain your change in circumstances. Magistrates are generally just glad to be getting at least something each week and also you have adhered I assume to the current payment plan so that should soften them up a bit. I know unemployed people are only expected to pay £5 pw so if you were to ask for £50 pm you're still paying it off just for a longer period.

Seriously tho, you need to sort yourself out, if you've problems there are free drug/alcohol agencies in most major towns & cities.

Pollycat

Sqem wrote: »

My current outgoings are £1100 per month, before I've even bought food whereas my income is now £1086 per month.

DCFC79 wrote: »

Cut back on your outgoings.

Good advice from DCFC79.

This is a money saving website so check out the DebtFree Wannabe board (you don't have to be in debt to post on there but if you don't do something about the fact that your outgoings are higher than your income you will be in debt).

Post a SOA (Statement of Accounts) and I'm sure someone will be along to advise you where you can save money.

SOA template here:
http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

I can't help with advice on the possible amount of your fine but even if someone does give you an idea of the amount, I can't see that helping you until the magistrate makes a decision.

Collabora

paying off a fine for failing to provide a specimen ( most likely for D&D) then getting caught again for being D&D and then in another thread you accuse KFC of stealing 3.99 from you.

I think is is the least of your problems, just hope you get a good judge/magistrate as if you get a bad one you could see yourself spending some custodial time if you dont have the income to pay fines

SamGR

The solicitor will advise the court of your financial situation. if you do have any problems paying it after court then there is a helpline (they will give the number at court) which you can explain your situation and they will ask for an amount you can afford each month.

Yellabowley

Collabora wrote: »

paying off a fine for failing to provide a specimen ( most likely for D&D) then getting caught again for being D&D and then in another thread you accuse KFC of stealing 3.99 from you.

I think is is the least of your problems, just hope you get a good judge/magistrate as if you get a bad one you could see yourself spending some custodial time if you dont have the income to pay fines

Firstly you don't provide a specimen of anything for D&D. Failing to provide is for drink driving and therefore is not really relevant to a D&D offence although alcohol figures in both.


Secondly the chance of a custodial sentence is virtually none even with no means to pay. With the exception of the drink drive it's his first offence. A conditional discharge or possibly Community service is the more likely outcome if he has no means to pay. Or the fine will be paid at 50p a week over a very long time.


No need to worry the lad unnecessarily. And I'm sure he's aware of his shortcomings. If he's posting something on here it's because he would like some advice, the judgements don't really help and tend to push people away from using the boards.

EssexExile

Yellabowley wrote: »

Secondly the chance of a custodial sentence is virtually none even with no means to pay. With the exception of the drink drive it's his first offence. A conditional discharge or possibly Community service is the more likely outcome if he has no means to pay. Or the fine will be paid at 50p a week over a very long time.

They can't up the tariff to community service just because you can't pay the fine, if the offence deserves a fine that's what it gets. As your circumstances have changed since the last fine you can renegotiate the payment rate but it won't be 50p a week.

Yellabowley

EssexExile wrote: »

They can't up the tariff to community service just because you can't pay the fine, if the offence deserves a fine that's what it gets. As your circumstances have changed since the last fine you can renegotiate the payment rate but it won't be 50p a week.

It's got nothing to do with upping the tariff. Schedule 6 of the Courts Act 2003 empowers the court to order that an offender discharge a fine by means of unpaid work where the courts feel they would be unable to pay by any other means.

Being given a fine and forced to pay it through unpaid work and being given Community Service would mean the same thing to the person required to carry it out.

As for 50p a week that tends to be a deduction of benefits and often applies where the offender has a number of fines they are paying. I have however had compensation paid to me at a rate of £5 a month before on numerous occasions so a small amount over a lengthy period is entirely possible.

Let us know how you get on anyway.