Drink driving - now up in court

lacoste1985_2

Hi all

Firstly I would just like to say that its not me who is up in court for committing the above offence but a very good friend of mine. She foolishly tried driving home after a night on the town after her and her friend had an argument and she got told she couldnt stay at her friends house that night. She has only got a provisional license but fortunately had tax, insurance and an MOT on the vehicle she was driving. To cut a long story short she was pulled over by the police for turning right into a road that she shouldnt have been on and consequently being on the wrong side of the road. After being breathalised it was found she was twice over the drink drive limit (62mg of alcohol were in her blood). She has got to go to court in 2 wks time and has been told to expect up to an 18mth ban as well as a rather hefty fine which has obviously !!!!ed her off a bit as shes in the middle of learning to drive.

She hasnt got much money and works full time as it doing 50hr weeks. Is there anything she can do over the next 2 weeks to try save herself from getting the worst sentencing such as getting character references from her employr, uni? I am assuming she wont be going to prison.

If anyone has any advice or has been in a similar situation Id really appreaciate some info.

Many thanks

Lacoste

surreysaver

For a start, if she has only a provisional license and was alone in the car, then she hasn't got insurance - it would be void.

bestpud

Maybe she could contact the court she will be attending and ask if she is allowed to submit character refs or the like?

I wouldn't have thought she'd be looking at prison if it is her first offence.

Personally, I think she has no right to be ****ed off! She took a chance and got caught. If she was so drunk she turned where she shouldn't then I'd say she was lucky she didn't hit a person or other car!

emmy05

im not sure of what she can do, usually those ppl who need to drive for their jobs have gotten away with having their licence taken .......... depends what ppl you get to pass the sentence i guess.

pinkshoes

I doubt she'll go to prison, but you can often go on a course (usually 3 consecutive Saturdays) and get the ban reduced by 3 months. The fine is generally non negotiable.

The insurance was void as she didn't have a sober adult with a full license in the car with her.

There's really not a lot she can do other than plead guilty, admit she was an idiot. It happened to a good friend of mine a couple of years ago... (he got caught driving over the limit at 8am as he'd been out the night before).

She'll end up having really expensive insurance when she does finally get a license.

MrsTinks

Silly her...
Sorry but with drink driving AND on a provisional license... I don't think character witnesses will make much difference...
She's going to get banned and she WILL get fined. Hopefully it'll do what it's supposed to and teach her a lesson so that she'll NEVER EVER do such a dumb thing ever again!
If she thinks it's unfair then tell her to go and speak to parents who have lost a child to a driver under the influence!
Sorry no sympathy from me! She could have slept in the car till morning when she'd probably have been sober.

astonsmummy

Nothing she can do.
She'll just have to take the punishment and deal with it.

DigitalJedi

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. She was wrong, she was caught. Take the punishment like an adult.

vixarooni

I think she should be worrying about the fact she could have harmed other people and herself by her immature actions, rather than being narked by the punishment she is going to get.

Sounds like someone needs to grow up pretty sharpish.

Errata

Unaccompanied learner driver driving on the wrong side of the road and drunk as a skunk? I doubt a character reference from the Pope himself would make a difference.

geekgirl

She should have got a taxi, not much use to her now of course but she should be feeling really happy she didn't hurt anyone else.