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)!

He's tee total but they didn't appreciate him telling them that he'd not drank in a decade - he was told off for being sarcastic, lol.

Ive been pulled over 3 times in random breathalyser stops.

Twice when living abroad.

First time I said I hadn't been drinking (was a holiday rep) and I'm not sure the believed me as when it read 0 they made me redo it 😂

2nd time was 4am and I was on my way back from airport duty at 3am. When I got out the car in full uniform they were more believing I was on Mn way from work and when they saw my very pregnant belly they just told me to get back in and I could go 😂

3rd time was the U.K. they weren't amused when they said "when wa a the last time you had an alcoholic drink" and I said "2012". This was 2016. They thought I was taking the piss. I wasn't! And I still haven't had alcohol since then!

Sorry, I didn't mean it was a dead end. It's just not really a route to anywhere. As in the police would have no reason to be randomly driving down it (as another poster would imply that they might do).

It's a narrow, awkward road too, nobody would usually choose to drive down it unnecessarily and as I've said, you can't park on it unless you're a resident.

He wasn't drunk. He doesn't drink often at all. I think I saw him have two beers, once at a party about 7 years ago.

@itsgettingweird yeah, they clearly didn't believe my dad either - not sure they even believed he was a doctor tbh

I suppose so many people lie that they just assume everyone is!

I said that in the context in it isn't illegal on private land. Sorry for confusion!

Every single person I know would’ve done this, and if they say they wouldn’t, they are lying! You didn’t drive down the motorway or even down the road passing another car, you reversed onto your own driveway.

No idea why you posted this on mumsnet though, you were asking for trouble doing that 😂

So each bottle of wine would have been about 2.3 units.

It takes 1 hour (roughly) for a unit to leave your bloodstream.

So if you went out at 5pm and started drinking and drank 6.9 units between 5 and 11pm (6 hours) over the 5 hours after your first you would have had about 1.9 ish units in your bloodstream. (Give or take and you ate too which can actually lower it)

The right guide is if you are driving to have no more than 2 units of you are female.

So depending on a lot of factors you may not have been over the legal limit.

Still would t recommend drinking that much and risking driving.

But all that matters if you are stopped is the legal bit!

But you would legally be over the limit

"Reverse backwards"? As opposed to reversing forwards? 🤣

Yes I know and I wouldn't do it but I think tolerance to alcohol varies, I obviously drink too much.

Yes, as opposed to the more commonly used 'reversing forward manouvre' Lol! 😂

It's that three mini bottles of wine I've had!

@cosyleafcafe Yes. Reverse parking is a feature of the driving test now. It wasn't when I took my test.

I didn't say I couldn't reverse park. I said I wasn't very good at it. I can, and do, do it, but I don't bother trying if I think that the space is too tight.

To be fair, I have found that I am a lot better at reverse parking in my current car (which has parking sensors and a camera) than I was in my previous one (which didn't)!

Just get a taxi to and from the pub next time.

I bet there are plenty of people that would struggle to reverse park someone else’s car into a tight space (potentially in the dark?). I wouldn’t like to try it, glad you lot are all so proficient.

I’d say you were lucky you didn’t hit anything so forget about it and I see you say you won’t do it again.

Out of curiosity, if it is easily doable for you to leave your car a couple of times a week after being at the pub and collecting it in the morning, why are you taking it all? I’d leave it at home and get there another way if I could.

I second that. no big deal IMO - leaving a car blocking pavement has more risk for others safety than parking your car properly when you are clearly not drunk. Just a lesson not to allow anyone else to drive your car in future and get a taxi. I presume your friend is insured to drive your car?

Good grief, the judgement on here is something else! "You could have killed someone"? She was parking outside her house in a deserted road in the middle of the night, not rampaging through the centre of town.

Op legally no crime is committed if it’s on your private land. You are not guilty of drink driving In this case. It would be if it was a public place ie Sainsbury’s car park, which is both private and public.

on saying that I’d not recommend doing it again.

Plus your pub plan sounds fine, go out, have fun, if that includes a few drinks , then enjoy, walk back with your dog. Don’t let the bloke drive again.

You do realise that it hasn't always been in the test, right?

It has for a long time, though. I took my test 25 years ago and had to do it then. (Well, technically you had to do 2 out of 3 manoeuvres - reverse park, reverse round a corner, turn in the road - but you didn't know which two it would be.)

It wasn't "her own drive", it was an on-street parking space with someone else's car in the next space. The biggest risk was probably hitting a neighbour's car than a person. Some knobber hit my parked car once and it was a pain in the arse. Drinking and attempting to move your car is a dick move, even if you might "only" "bump" someone else's property.

It’s a private road, she’s stated that clearly, as such she can drive up and down it off her tits if she pleases and no law is broken.

I didn't dispute whether or not it was private property, just saying it wasn't a driveway. It was a on road space.

Three mini bottles equals a whole bottle doesn’t it ? 25cl bottles, and 75cl is a whole bottle - potentially 10 units of alcohol. And it’s not about your alcohol tolerance it’s about the processing of alcohol in your system. Most adults process one unit per hour, so you were massively over the limit. So no, you shouldn’t have done it, and had a police car been passing and pulled you over, all you needed for a DD conviction was to be in the driving seat with the keys in your hand - that puts you in control of the vehicle.

Sure, but as it was a private road it makes no difference, she has done nothing wrong, it is perfectly legal, I live on a private road, my kid can get behind the wheel and pull donuts. I can get off my face and drive up and down it. Now sure I’d not allow or do either, it certainly wouldn’t be smart, but it is legal. Plenty of kids learn to drive on fields or private roads, they are behind the wheel at 12 or 13.

clearly the op has a high tolerance to alcohol too, after the best part of a bottle of wine she was perfectly capable of reverse parking her car, and with precision into a tight space. It’s irrelevant though. As she’s broken no law.