I drank drove (sort of) but I didn't know what else to do. There's a (not v good) diagram.

[Uriahsnose]

I drove to my local pub like I do a couple of times a week. If I am having alcohol, I leave the car there and collect it the following day.

The other night, my neighbour/friend came in, was sober and offered to drive me home in my car-he only lives around the corner. As this is safer for me than walking home I agreed.

Some houses on my street have front gardens, some have drives. I have a front garden as does one of my next door neighbours. Terraced, narrow, village one way street-parking can be a bit awkward but the houses that don't have a drive all have a designated parking space.

So my friend goes to park my car and it transpires that he doesn't know how to reverse park. He tried to drive into my parking space but the NDN with a drive's car was sticking out of their drive, and the other neighbour (in front of where my car would go) is parked outside her house. So it ended up with my car sticking out at an angle, blocking the road. I told my friend 'you'll need to reverse park, you can't leave it blocking the road'. He tried but couldn't do it-kept saying 'I can't because I can't see!' And 'will that do' (no, it wouldn't!) so in the end I told him to get out and I parked it myself.

I was so nervous-even though I wasn't drunk (I'd had three of those mini bottles of wine) and I knew I couldn't hurt anybody, but It's still illegal isn't it?

AIBU to think that if you can't reverse park, you shouldn't be driving a tonne of metal?

(Just realised I haven't accurately depicted the gardens in my diagram but the basic set up/situation is the same)!

It's tiny and often full. I feel nervous even IN the car park to be honest-It's in a renowned dodgy area but I love the gym.

You could go to the pub and not drink at all ,or not drink enough to be over the limit.

You're probably more at risk from the man you know being in a car with you than from random strangers while you walk home.

It's an automatic driving ban for being in control of a motor vehicle while over the prescribed limit. No wrist slapping would be going on. You don't even need to be manoeuvring the vehicle to be prosecuted.

OP you are getting very unfairly roasted here! I wouldn't give it any thought. And I happily move my car all the time after a few drinks, if a neighbour asks me. I live in the middle of nowhere and there is absolutely nothing that could possibly come of it. I'm obviously not HAMMERED. And I always check for cats. ;)

OP you have two options:

1. Just don't drink, then you can drive all you want.

2. Make plans about how you're going to get home, BEFORE you go out.

This is what everyone else does. You're not the only single woman who's ever been to the pub alone.

Although statistically you're right, I have known this one a very long time and I really don't believe him to be a risk to me.

(I also often drive to the pub and then make a call about whether I drive home or not, depending if I fancy having more than one pint. It's very normal behaviour in the countryside!!)

What sort of plans?

OP is not getting "unfairly roasted".

She put herself at the wheel of a car at more than 3 times above the legal alcohol limit, and doesn't seem to understand what she could have done to prevent that situation.

Taxi, ride share. If you can't figure it out, don't drink.

Not on private land apparently!
I did know that somewhere in the back of my mind, but it hadn't clicked for this situation so i would've likely been okay.

Arrange a lift with a friend or to walk with a friend, arrange a cab, or literally anything that doesn't involve drink driving.

If it involves driving then you simply don't drink. You don't have to consume alcohol.

You have three choices. Go to the pub and get a taxi, go to the pub in your car but don't drink until you're over the limit, or don't go to the pub. Going to the pub with your car and expecting someone else to drive you back is madness.

I'd like to know what people think could possibly happen reverse-parking a car in the middle of nowhere after half a bottle of wine.

Someone left a baby on the drive?

It's not really far enough for a taxi to be feasible. Nobody else who I know in there lives anywhere near me or goes home at the same time etc etc.

I do think these things through. The dog is a safety net and if someone is going my way I will ask them to walk me home. I am fairly happy with the arrangments I make already-I choose to take that risk but it doesn't mean I don't feel unsafe.

Just this particular night I figured that nobody was about to walk me home and being offered a lift seemed ideal.

😅😂😆
Actually, I would like to know that too. Worst that could've happened apart from in VERY exceptional circumstances, is that I'd have bumped someone's car. Not something I'd choose to do of course but hardly the end of the world.

That's most likely what that means. Many people have their own comprehensive car insurance which allows them to drive other vehicles with permission of the owner on a third party basis.

I'm guessing this is more common than people randomly deciding to risk driving uninsured for someone else's benefit or convenience.

Why can't I just do what I normally do?

I don't have any friends who go to the pub. I don't live near any of my friends. I have people I know there who I am happy to spend some time with and be sociable with. Taxi isn't feasible.

That is not the point. The problem is that she doesn't understand what she could have done differently, or even that she should have done something differently. The guy was also driving on the wrong side of the road and clearly inept, OP has said as much.

Getting home from the pub is a scenario that many people deal with in a responsible way, every day. People go to the pub alone all the time, and manage to get there and back without drink driving (yes, even women can do this!)

It's something that has a very simple solution and OP can't seem to understand it.

If everyone did what OP has done here, then there would be a problem.

She needs to make plans about getting home before she goes out, particularly if she likes a drink and feels unsafe walking. You don't agree to someone whose driving ability you have no idea about to drive your car. That was the result of bad planning.

I mean it's done now so learn from it and move on. However, just to make you aware, fully comp insurance doesn't automatically cover you to drive any car third party anymore, so he might not have been insured (lots of people don't know this has changed), and also it's shocking how many people now don't have insurance and/or a driving licence. Not to mention letting someone drive your car when you didn't know how competent they were, and you only had his word that he was sober too - be more careful in future!

Because what you normally do resulted in you getting in front of the wheel of the car when you had had 3 glasses of wine.

You weren’t absolutely fine. You’d had a bottle of wine and made poor choices, resulting in you drink driving

You both sound completely reckless.

Presumably he was driving your car without insurance?

And then you took over and drunk drive?

And you think this is acceptable?

Yes YABU and could have been prosecuted for this for good reason.

I feel unsafe walking but I have still done it for the past decade (longer actually I think).

The point is I didn't know he was inept until I was home already. I wouldn't have accepted a lift otherwise.

It isn't that I 'didn't know what I could have done differently other than accept a lift', this is literally the first time I have been offered a lift from him (or anyone else) it was that I didn't know what I could have done differently once actually IN that situation. Other than have him drive me back to the pub or leave the car sticking out blocking the road.