If you have been caught drink driving but believe it is due to spiked drinks you may have special reasons to avoid a ban.
You can avoid being disqualified for drink driving if you have been given an alcoholic drink instead of a non alcoholic drink;or your alcoholic drink has been ‘spiked’ with more alcohol.
This is a difficult area of law and many solicitors have never won a case of this type. We specialise in this type of case and win most of our cases.
You will need to show 4 things –
1. That your drink was laced or spiked.
2. That you did not know or suspect that your drink was spiked
3. If your drink had not been spiked then you would have been below the limit.
4. That you should not have realised that you were over the limit.
The first requirement, that your drink was spiked, should be proved by someone giving evidence that they had spiked your drink. It is not enough to say that you have been told that your drinks were spiked. In rare cases you can give evidence of how much you drank and the court can draw a conclusion that your drinks were spiked. This is very difficult and even we lose some of these cases.
You will need to satisfy the court that you did not know, or suspect that your drink contained more alcohol than you thought. This can be difficult to show and you will be expected to explain to the court that you did not taste the alcohol.
The third requirement is the most difficult. You will normally need expert evidence to prove this, in certain circumstances we can prove this element without expert evidence.
The final part is that you will need to convince the court that even if there are special reasons not to disqualify you they should exercise their discretion and not disqualify you. This will be easier the lower the reading is. We have successfully argued this with readings up to 80 but generally the lower readings are more likely to be successful.
The procedure is that you have to plead guilty but ask the court to adjourn the case for a ‘special reasons hearing’. This is like a trial and witnesses will give evidence and be cross examined. You will also have to give evidence and will be cross examined.
It is an area of law that should only really be dealt with by specialist drink driving solicitors.
If you believe that your drinks were spiked and want to try and keep your licence call us and we will advise you of your chances of success.
