I appeared in Derby Magistrates recently with a client who had been caught drink driving. He was stopped on the way to dropping his daughter off at school and was still over the limit from the night before.
Many people don’t realise how long it takes for the alcohol to leave your system and a heavy nights drinking can leave you over the limit the following day.
The punishment is just the same, the courts have to disqualify you for a minimum of 12 months. They will often disqualify you for longer because there are a number of factors that make it more serious such as it being a busy time of day and having passengers in the car.
In this case I was able to persuade the court to be lenient in terms of the length of sentence.
