Can drink driving charges be dropped?

How to get drink driving charges dropped

Drink driving charges can be dropped for a multitude of reasons. If the police fail to comply with statutory procedures and Codes of Practice during your arrest you may have a defence. Similarly, if the CPS fail to comply with its disclosure duties or specific court directions, the evidence against you may be excluded. Last year, we won more drink driving cases than in any other year. This was mainly due to CPS staffing shortages, a back-log following the Covid-19 crisis and long terms budget cuts to Magistrates' Courts across the country. In this blog we look at some of the most effective ways to defend a drink driving charge and how to get drink driving cases dropped. For more information on drink driving cases, or to speak to a specialist solicitor, please call us on 01514228020. 

Drink Driving Cases Studies and 'wins' 

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If you’ve been charged with a drink driving offence, try not to worry. Drink driving cases are often poorly prosecuted by the CPS who seem to have limited interest in motoring offences. It’s imperative that you act quickly to secure the specialist help you need – this could mean the difference between keeping your licence or losing it. The earlier we can intervene, the sooner we can make a difference.

According to the Magistrates' Court Sentencing Guidelines, the penalty for a first time drink driving offence is a mandatory driving disqualification and a fine. If it is your second or third offence it could be as much as a 3 or 4 year driving ban. In more serious drink driving cases, the court can impose community service or prison. Just because you have a clean record does not mean that you will not be sent to prison. You can read more about prison sentences in our blog. But what happens in cases where drink driving charges are dropped, and how does this happen? 

5 steps to win a drink driving case 

Step 1 

The first step in winning a drink driving case is to obtain the 'IDPC'. Assuming you've been charged and given a court date, you need to ask the CPS for the advance disclosure of evidence. The IDPC is a bundle of around 20 pages of police evidence. It is normally available before the first hearing and will tell us more about the case against you. It may contain witness statements, a case summary and procedural forms. This is the first step in identifying errors with the prosecution's case against you. Remember you can always invite the CPS to withdraw the case 

Step 2

Once you've obtained the IDPC you need to prepare for the first hearing. Make sure you've agreed on a clear strategy with your solicitor before the hearing. When you arrive at court your solicitor should ask the CPS if any further evidence is available. If it is, this can be reviewed in a conference room before the case begins. If you disagree with any of the evidence you should enter a not guilty plea. Remember that by pleading not guilty you will not increase the driving disqualification, even if you're later found guilty. The court can only increase the financial penalty (usually by around 30%). In court, your solicitor will need to explain your defences to the magistrates and complete the case management form. This form sets out your defences and helps to avoid any confusion later on. It needs to be completed correctly by a legal professional. 

The court will set directions following your not guilty plea. A direction is a deadline by which an action must take place. For example, the court may direct the CPS to serve any further evidence within 28 days. Sometimes, the CPS will attempt to change the directions or ask for more time. It is important that your solicitor challenges this and attempts to make the prosecution's job more difficult. The aim is to set the CPS 'up to fail'. 

Step 3

Following a not guilty plea the court will set a trial date and adjourn the matter for many months. You can normally continue to drive during this time. It is at this stage in your case that your solicitor should be organised and proactive. You cannot simply sit and wait for evidence. Under the Criminal Procedure Rules, you have a responsibility to assist the court in its case management duties and to contact the CPS for evidence. If you fail to contact the CPS, any application to exclude evidence at a later date is unlikely to be successful. 

Step 4

At this stage in your case there are a number of different ways the case could be dropped. These include;

• The CPS has failed to provide the evidence or comply with the court directions 
• Your solicitor has identified a number of errors with the evidence provided
• You have a defence to the allegation 
• The CPS decide not to proceed with the case (cases can be dropped without explanation)
• A witness is unavailable or becomes uncooperative 

Many of our drink driving cases are dropped at 'Step 4' and we therefore avoid the need to attend a trial. We always aim to win our client's cases as quickly as we can. No one wants to attend court to be cross-examined, so the earlier we can win your case the better. 

Step 5

If the case is not dropped then it will probably proceed to trial (unless, of course, you change your plea - but we are unlikely to advise you to do so). One benefit in taking the case to trial that you force the CPS to prepare its case, attend court and bring its witnesses. In most drink driving cases, witnesses will include police officers and members of the public. In cases that involve blood or urine, a witness might also include a nurse and forensic scientists. Regularly, due to miscommunication and poor administration, prosecution witnesses fail to show up. Please remember that drink driving cases are 'low priority' in comparison to many other offences. This means that they're pushed to the back of the queue and probably won't be reviewed until closer to a trial date (when it's too late to warn a witness).

Many of our drink driving cases only involve one or two police officers. You might think it's easy enough for a police officer to attend court. But with training days, annual leave, sick leave and other court appearances, it's not uncommon for dates to clash or for officers to forget. You're also assuming the officer has actually been told to attend the trial. In many cases that we deal with, the CPS fail to notify the officer that his attendance at trial is required. 

Assuming the witnesses do attend you then have the option of running the trial and questioning the witnesses. Your decision depends upon the advice you receive and whether you have a valid defence. If you'd prefer not to run the trial you could consider negotiating a 'plea deal' with the CPS. This may reduce the penalty from a driving ban to penalty points. 

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The five most common ways that drink driving charges are dropped 

Drink driving cases are normally dropped for one of the following five reasons. You may not know at this stage in your case whether any of these reasons apply. Checking the evidence from the CPS should help us assess your case and identify any available defences;

1. The police arrested you unlawfully 
2. The police failed to fill in the MGDDA document 
3. The police did not see you driving (i.e. because you were involved in a car accident)
4. The CPS fail to provide the correct evidence against you (usually 28 days) 
5. Witnesses fail to attend court for trial 

For you to be convicted of drink driving, there has to be enough evidence to prove the case 'beyond all reasonable doubt', and the CPS need to follow a strict framework when serving this evidence. If the evidence is insufficient (i.e breathalyser calibrated incorrectly, unsuitable blood/urine samples) OR the police have missed a step in the procedure, you cannot be convicted of drink driving (even if your reading is high). Attempting to win cases on this basis can be tricky, especially without a motoring defence solicitor. We may have to serve a skeleton argument or provide the CPS with case law. We will, of course, advise you on all of these issues if we're acting for you. 

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Drink Driving Special Reasons 

Read our special reasons webpage.

Even if you cannot win your case outright, there are ways to avoid a drink driving ban. One way to do this is to argue ‘special reasons’ (Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, s.34(1)). Special reasons should not be mistaken for mitigation. Mitigation relates to your personal circumstances. Special reasons must relate to the offence and not the offender. Some examples of special reasons could be;

• Driving for a short distance and in circumstances where the motorist was unlikely to be brought into contact with other road users. 
• The fact that a motorists’ drinks were spiked and they did not know they were consuming alcohol. 
• The fact that a motorist was given drinks stronger than they asked for and didn’t know
• The presence of mouth alcohol (mouthwash) as a factor affecting the reliability of the breath specimen. This can cause an elevated reading unrelated to the amount of alcohol actually consumed.
• The motorist was coping with a genuine emergency when they committed the offence.

In order for a special reason to be considered in court, there must be significant and substantial evidence to prove it. This may mean you have to bring witnesses in or get them to write statements (i.e the person who was buying your drinks would have to admit to lacing them with alcohol). If there is a lack of evidence, it won’t be considered and you risk still facing a minimum 12 month ban (or worse). 

If you have been charged with a drink driving offence, speak to one of our driving solicitors today on 01514228020. We offer free initial advice on all motoring offences and will tell you instantly whether we feel you have a defence. 

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Drink Driving Sentencing Guidelines 

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