Drink driving offenders and...

[foreverinmyheart]

A friend of mine was completely irresponsible and crashed his car, was found to have 100milliletres of alcohol in his breath, AND was in possession of cocaine (which I have been told was less than 0.5g). No one else involved, no one else in car, no one else hurt.

Obviously absolutely fuming. That's a different story.

I was interested to hear if anyone has a view on the likely legal penalty/conviction for this.

He has been charged with both. Court date soon. No previous criminal history.

He doesn't have much money either and trying to get legal advice/representation so any pointers are really welcomed.

He will get a community order for the drink driving charge, possibly with a fine. He will also be banned from driving for 23-28 months (36-52 months if this is his second offence in 10 years). The amount of community service he will have to do, the nature of any other requirements on the community order and the length of the ban depend on the seriousness of the offence. The fact he crashed the car pushes it up the seriousness scale. There may also be factors present that reduce the seriousness of the offence.

Cocaine is a Class A drug. The starting point for sentencing is a Band C fine (125%-175% of his weekly income). He will get a minimum of a Band A fine (25%-75% of weekly income). At the other end of the scale, he could get 51 weeks custody, although that could be a suspended sentence.

For both offences, it will help if he pleads guilty at the first possible opportunity and shows genuine remorse.

He will be banned . And fined.
Did the police not do a drug wipe too ?
The legal limit for breath is 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 ml breath . 100 is well over .

He's a dick . And he's lucky he didn't kill someone .

www.drinkdriving.org/drink-driving-penalty-calculate.php#penalty

Yes he's been a complete twat. Honestly so angry.

They didn't do a drug swipe. Just the alcohol. Which I'm surprised at.

Thank you for responding. That makes sense and totally deserved..!

OP out of interest, how much had your friend had to drink? A ‘friend’ (not a friend!) of mine got caught with similar levels, and claims it was due to a heavy night before driving to work the next morning. It seems a high reading if you’ve gone at least 5-6 hrs since your last drink, but perhaps it’s possible.

Yes, it is possible. It depends on sex, weight, the alcohol concentration in the drink and other factors, but a man who drinks 8 pints of beer is likely to have a reading that high 6 hours later. A woman could have that high a reading 6 hours after drinking 5 pints of beer.

@prh47bridge thanks for the information!

A friend of mine blew 41, 3rd offence. Got 3 year ban, reduced by doing the awareness course, on tag for 6 weeks, no fine, no points. It can really vary from judge to judge

No, it can't, other than to a limited extent. Judges have to follow the sentencing guidelines. A reading of 41 places it in the lowest sentencing category which means a fine and, since this was a second offence within 10 years, disqualification for 36-40 months. Because drink driving carries a disqualification, there are never any points. In your friend's case, the judge substituted the awareness course and the tag for a fine.