Drink Driving

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Drink driving is on page 124 of the sentencing guidelines here

 

http://sentencingcouncil.judiciary.gov.uk/docs/MCSG_(web)_-_Complete_8.pdf

 

As you can see, you can expect a ban of 12-16 months (probably 16 as your alcohol reading is at the top of the first band) and a band C fine - which means around 150% of your weekly income, reduced by a third if you plead guilty.if you're out of work and on benefits your income will be assumed to be £110/week, so expect a fine of around £110. To that you can add costs of around £85 (may be reduced for people on very low income) and a victim surcharge of £20. You'll normally be allowed to pay the fine by installments. You'll likely be offered the chance to take a drink driver rehabilitation course which would reduce the ban by a quarter.

 

You won't be going to prison unless there's something big that you haven't mentioned. Jail is reserved for repeat offenders, those WAY over the limit, and those who kill or cause serious injury while drunk.

 

While the details of the conviction stay on our licence for 11 years, it only has to be declared to insurers for 5 years, as that's how long it takes to become "spent" under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. However you can expect a significant premium hike for those 5 years.

 

You're more likely to be dealt with by magistrates than by a judge. The correct form of address for magistrates is "your worships", but if you get flustered or you're not sure, nobody is going to get upset if you just say "sir" or "madam".

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Have you told your insurance company that you've been banned? Your policy will nearly always stipulate that you have to tell them immediately. If so, did they cancel the policy or were they happy to keep it running?

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I didnt tell them as saw no need as I wouldnt be driving ? If I was to drive I wouldnt be insured anyway...

Your policy's almost certainly invalid then. Not much point having it, as it won't pay out, even for something. like theft if you haven't told them about a pretty massive change of circumstances.

 

Why does the car actually need taxing and insuring if you can't drive it? You could save a fair bit of money by cancelling both and SORNing it. If you're worried about theft, you can get a fire and theft only policy (Google "laid up insurance") for a fraction of the price of a "regular" one which covers road accidents.note that laid up insurance doesn't count as insurance for the purposes of the Road Trafic Act as it doesn't cover third party risks, so the car still has to be kept off road and SORNed.

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Generally speaking there'll also be a clause requiring you to inform them of changes to your circumstances, such as convictions, changes of address, changes of occupation. Some of those things you have to tell them about immediately, some of them only in time for your next renewal - but on every policy I've ever seen bans are something that have to be disclosed immediately. It's breaching that clause which potentially makes the whole policy invalid (a far bigger issue than having no tax - which wouldn't be a problem in the event of a claim).