Tracy Johnson of Forrest Williams
Case Study: Drink Driving Mitigation To Reduce Length of Ban
At Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court this week, Robin Handley was pleasantly surprised to discover that he would not have to attend court on a separate occasion. His guilty plea was entered and he was sentenced at his initial hearing.
When he had first instructed Forrest Williams to prepare his case and represent him at his hearing, Robin had been duly warned by his case worker that the high breath reading (102) for his drink driving charge would likely mean that he would have to meet with probation services, who would prepare a report, before he could be sentenced by the court.
However, on the day of the hearing, the District Judge ordered a stand-down pre-sentencing report be completed, following which an oral report was presented to the court. The report recommended that a community order be made, with a requirement to complete unpaid work.
Robin’s community order was for 12 months, with order to complete 60 hours of unpaid work.
He was also disqualified from driving for a period of 24 months, which will be reduced by 25% on completion of the drink drive rehabilitation course.
Robin was philosophical about his drink driving charge, but pleased with the outcome.
He told his case worker that he had held his driving licence for just over 30 years and that his licence was clean. Further, he had never been disqualified from driving in the past.
That the drink driving charge was out of character was a fact Robin’s barrister stressed to the court when presenting mitigation.
Robin, who previously worked as a milk man, now has to live with the consequences of his decision to have a few drinks with colleagues after finishing his milk round. With the disqualification in place, he cannot continue in this line of work and will have to find alternative employment. He realises that, in his 50s, this will not be easy.
Robin thanked his case worker and his barrister for supporting him through a stressful and challenging process, and ensuring that he spent as little time as possible in a court room.
If you have been charged with drink driving, call our expert team now for impartial legal advice and specialist representation on 01623 397200.
