Drink & Drug Driving Solicitors
A drink or drug driving conviction means a minimum 12-month ban, a criminal record, and likely the loss of your job. Before you plead guilty, let a specialist tell you whether the charge can be defended.
Drink driving, drug driving, failure to provide a specimen, and driving while unfit — these are serious criminal charges with serious consequences. But the prosecution must prove every element of the offence, the device must be correctly calibrated, the procedure must have been followed correctly, and the statutory defences must be considered. A specialist motoring solicitor will review the full evidence before any plea is entered.
Defending the Charge
Drink and drug driving — the prosecution case and where a defence can succeed.
The prosecution must prove the offence beyond reasonable doubt — and there are technical requirements, device calibration rules, and procedural steps that must all have been correctly followed. A solicitor reviews each of them before advising on plea.
Device calibration and approved devices
The breath test must be conducted on an approved device — the Intoxilyzer, Lion Intoximeter, Camic Datamaster, or Evidenzer. The device must be in proper calibration on the date of the test. A solicitor will request the calibration records and inspect whether the device was within its calibration period and operating correctly. A device that was not properly calibrated or was not an approved device renders the evidence unreliable — and may defeat the charge entirely.
Procedure at the police station
The police must follow the PACE Code C procedure at the police station — offering legal advice, providing the statutory warning before taking the specimen, observing the 20-minute waiting period, and providing the motorist with a printout of the result. Where procedure was not correctly followed — the warning was not given, the waiting period was truncated, or the printout was not provided — the evidence may be challenged. A solicitor will review the custody record and station procedure against the statutory requirements.
The hip flask defence (post-driving drinking)
Where a defendant consumed alcohol after they stopped driving but before the specimen was taken, the question is whether the alcohol consumed after driving (not before) caused the reading to exceed the limit. This is the "hip flask" or post-incident drinking defence. Expert toxicological evidence is required to establish what the reading would have been at the time of driving. A solicitor will instruct a toxicologist and assess whether the defence is properly supported by the evidence before it is run at trial.
Drug driving — prescribed medication
Drug driving under section 5A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 sets specified limits for 16 drugs — including legal prescription drugs. Where the drug found in the blood is a prescribed medication, the statutory defence of medical defence is available — but only where the drug was taken in accordance with the prescription, the driving was not impaired, and the defendant did not know or have reason to suspect that taking the medication would make driving dangerous. A solicitor will assess whether the defence applies and gather the evidence needed to support it.
Failure to provide a specimen
Failure to provide a specimen — of breath, blood, or urine — without reasonable excuse is an offence carrying the same mandatory disqualification as excess alcohol. A medical reason (asthma, genuine respiratory difficulty) can constitute a reasonable excuse — but it must be genuine and supported by medical evidence. A solicitor will assess whether a reasonable excuse defence applies and, where it does, obtain the medical evidence needed to support it. Where no defence applies, early guilty plea advice and mitigation is prepared.
Special reasons — avoiding the mandatory ban
Even where the offence is proved, the court has power to avoid disqualification on "special reasons" — a mitigating or extenuating circumstance directly connected to the commission of the offence. Special reasons are a high bar: they must relate to the offence, not the offender's personal circumstances. Examples include a genuine emergency, spiked drinks (where the defendant did not know they were consuming alcohol), or driving only a very short distance on private land. A solicitor will assess whether special reasons apply and present the argument to the court.