Appeal a Drink Driving Conviction

Convicted of drink driving in the Magistrates' Court

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If you have not yet been convicted of drink driving, click here. 

The Magistrates' Court is a free for all. Last year, the Magistrates' Court system dealt with 1.13 million cases, many of which were motoring offences. At the same time, many Magistrates' Courts across England and Wales were being closed down due to funding shortages. The entire court system is under more strain now than ever before. 

You may not know that magistrates are not legally trained and have little to experience of the legal profession. Most magistrates are retired but some volunteer in-between day jobs. For this reason, they don't always make the right decisions. They sometimes misunderstand and misapply the law. 

Appeal against a drink driving conviction

If you were convicted of drink driving in the Magistrates' Court you can appeal against this decision. You can lodge the appeal whilst at court (following the magistrates' verdict) or within 21 days. The appeal papers must be completed correctly and identify all the grounds to appeal. If your appeal papers are wrongly completed, it may limit the basis upon which you can appeal. M.A.J Law will also apply for your sentence (including your disqualification) to be suspended until the outcome of the appeal. This request is made at the same time you lodge the appeal and the magistrates may ask for reasons why they should suspend the ban. If the magistrates refuse to suspend your sentence, you can ask the Crown Court instead. Once the sentence is suspended, you can carry on driving and do not need to pay the fine/costs. 

You have 21 days to lodge appeal but can apply out of time. Always seek legal advice before appealing. There are always risks involved.

 

For the most part, there are very few risks in appealing against your conviction. An appeal in the Crown Court would take place in front of a Crown Court judge and two magistrates. A Crown Court judge will have much more experience than magistrates and will better understand the law. This should help with your appeal, particularly if your argument is quite technical or the magistrates misunderstood your defence.

Common defences that are appealed to the Crown Court include;

1. Post driving consumption of alcohol
2. Driver identification issues
3. Procedural irregularities 
4. Public/private land arguments
5. Factual defences 

An appeal against conviction is a complete rehearing of the whole case, so evidence not put before the magistrates may be adduced at the appeal. In other words, if you think your Magistrates' Court case would have benefitted from further evidence in support of your defence, you can put this evidence forward in the Crown Court. This will no doubt improve your chance of avoiding a conviction.

The Crown Court has the power to confirm, reverse or vary any part of the decision appealed against. When the Crown Court is sitting in its appellate capacity (as an appeal court), it must give reasons for its decisions. A refusal to give reasons might provide grounds for judicial review.

If the defence gives notice to abandon an appeal, the prosecution can apply to the magistrates' court to order the appellant to pay costs. The court can award costs that it considers just and reasonable in respect of expenses properly incurred by the prosecution in connection with the appeal before notice of abandonment was received.

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Appeal against sentence to reduce the ban

The other option you have is to appeal against the sentence. You can appeal against the sentence if you believe the sentence was unfair or excessive. This option is not open to the prosecution. You can appeal against the sentence even if you pleaded guilty.

The appeal would take place in front of a judge in the Crown Court where, hopefully, there is a better understanding of the sentencing guidelines. The judge would hear the facts of the case (presented by the CPS) and any aggravating features (e.g. a car accident). The CPS would normally contest the appeal. The appellant (you or your legal team) will then present submissions regarding sentence and any personal mitigation. Personal mitigation would include;

1. Good character 
2. Genuine remorse 
3. Reasons to drive
4. Family circumstances
5. Full time employment

Personal mitigation might also include any steps towards recover, such as counselling, addiction services, GP visits, family support etc... 

It is also important to review the Magistrates' Court Sentencing Guidelines. These guidelines are used by the magistrates when sentencing for drink driving offences. If you believe the guidelines were wrongly applied in your case, please get in touch to discuss the options of appeal. 

Magistrates' Court Sentencing Guidelines 

Breath alcohol level	Starting point	Disqualification	Disqualification (2nd offence)
36 – 59	Band C fine	12 – 16 months	36 - 40 months
60 – 89	Band C fine	17 – 22 months	36 - 46 months
90 – 119	Community Service	23 – 28 months	36 - 52 months
120 – 150>	12 weeks custody	29 – 36 months	36 – 60 months

Remember that if you have a previous drink driving, drug driving or failing to provide conviction within 10 years, the minimum disqualification is 3 years (possibly longer). A previous conviction for a similar offence will also increase the risk of prison.

The purpose of the appeal is to persuade the judge to impose a more lenient sentence. Take a look at the example below. 

Case Analysis

If the offence you were convicted of (or pleaded guilty to) carries a mandatory driving disqualification (such as drink driving), you cannot ask the magistrates to suspend the driving ban pending the outcome of the appeal. This is because the Crown Court will still have to impose a driving ban even if your appeal is successful. The purpose of an appeal against sentence is to reduce the driving ban, or to reduce/remove the community service or custodial sentence.

If you were convicted of an offence that does not carry a mandatory driving disqualification (such as an 'in charge' offence), you can ask the magistrates to suspend the driving disqualification.  

What are the risks? Could your appeal backfire? 

Please seek immediate legal advice if you're considering appealing your sentence. If the appeal court decides that the magistrates were too lenient, it can increase the sentence! This means that you walk out of court with a longer driving disqualification than you had received in the Magistrates' Court. Of course, in reality, it is highly unlikely the court would interfere with the sentence in this way or increase the ban. In addition, where the Crown Court is considering an increase in sentence, it will give your solicitor 

Was your sentence excessive?

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Drink Driving Appeal Costs 

An important consideration for anyone wanting to appeal is cost. Generally speaking, you do not get legal aid for appeals to the Crown Court. We only charge a fixed fee for the work that we carry out. This is because we believe everyone has the right to specialist affordable legal advice and representation. We do not charge crazy hourly rates.

If you appeal against conviction and you are successful, you are entitled to apply for costs from Central Funds. This is known as a defence costs order (DCO). The purpose of a DCO is to compensate you for the costs you incurred for defending yourself. You can also apply for the Magistrates' Court costs as well. 

Appeal against a decision not to find special reasons

The magistrates may not have accepted your special reasons argument. Sometimes the magistrates misunderstand special reasons, the circumstances where they apply and the burden of proof. You may get a fairer hearing in the Crown Court. 

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