Drink Driving

A father who was caught drink driving with his 18 month old toddler in the back seat of his vehicle has received a driving ban

Graham Allen, aged 56, was almost double the legal limit when he was caught by Hampshire Police after an anonymous tip-off. A breath test was carried out at the roadside revealing that Allen’s breath contained 69 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath – almost twice the legal limit of 35mg. The defendant who represented himself in court claimed that he had two pints of lager at lunch time and a glass of wine in the evening with his meal. He told magistrates he believed his drink was tampered with, but accepted there was no evidence to back up his claim.

Allen was fined £100 and told to pay £85 in court costs and £15 to a fund for crime victims. In addition he was banned from driving for 20 months.

A mother of three who drove for more than 20 miles on the wrong carriageway of the M5 while under the influence of alchol has been jailed.

43 year old Deborah Hunt was jailed for 7 months by Bristol Crown Court for a number of offences including driving with out insurance, drink driving and dangerous driving. In addition to her jail term she was also banned from driving for 15 months.

A drink-driver who had more than twice the legal amount of alcohol has been jailed for four years by a judge.

Jamie Still, 16, from Otley, was hit by Max McRae’s Vauxhall Corsa in Otley, West Yorkshire, on New Year’s Eve.

Mac McRae, aged 21 from Arthington, Leeds, was almost twice over the drink-drive limit killed Jamie Still from Otley when driving his Vauxhall Corsa in Leeds last New Year’s Eve.

McRae, who admitted causing death by careless driving, had been travelling at speeds estimated at 50mph in a 30mph zone, and had been performing handbrake turns in the vehicle in the car park of a garden centre not long before the fatal accident.

It was reported that his girlfriend had repeatedly asked him not to drive due to his drunken state but that he ignored her pleas with tragic consequences.

Sky sports presenter Georgie Thompson has been banned from driving for 19 months after pleading guilty to drink driving. She was stopped outside her home in the early hours of the morning after an accident in her Porsche whiuch happened while she was trying to park. oputsode her West London home.

It can often be worth some background checks to see if your parking ticket is valid.

In 2000 a motorist got a ticket from a warden working for Bury Council for not parking wholely within a marked parking bay. The motorist complained that the bays were too smal and that it was impossible for most cars to fit within the bays. The council refused to cancel the ticket and the fine stood.

The went motorist to the local council offices to look at the parking order and discovered two things. Firstly that  the council not have powers to charge at that particular location and secondly that the bays, while the bays were actually marked at an angle to the kerb they should have been painted parallel to the kerb.

As a result the fine was overturned.

What are the legal alcohol limits?

The legal limits are:

80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres in blood
35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres in breath
107 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres in urine

If you are found guilty of drink driving, the mandatory sentence is a period of disqualification for at least one year. In addition, you may also receive a fine of up to £5,000 and a prison sentence of up to six months.

The police are only allowed to breath test a driver if they have grounds to believe an offence has been committed. In other words purely random breath testing is not allowed. The breath test at the side of the road gives the police officer the authority to arrest the driver if he is over the drink drive limit. The driver must then give a blood or urine test at the police station and certain procedures must be followed for the test to be valid. Refusing to give a blood or urine test is in itself an offence.

Drink driving is a serious social problem which results in many deaths each year. If you feel you may have grounds to contest a drink driving prosecution, you are strongly advised to consult a lawyer specializing in drink driving cases.