There has been enormous cultural and behavioural change concerning drink driving, but still between 90,000 and 100,000 people per annum are prosecuted every year with a particular spike in arrests and prosecutions at this time of year.

The law and procedures governing this type of offence, whether it is driving whilst under the influence of drink or being found in charge of a motor vehicle, are strict and draconian. The blood alcohol limits are as follows:
• 35mgs of alcohol in 100ml of breath;
• 80mgs of alcohol in 100ml of blood;
• 107mgs of alcohol in 100ml urine.

Punishment on conviction, whether after a guilty plea or conviction after trial, is equally tough. You would normally receive a criminal record, be banned from driving for a minimum of 12 months, be fined up to a maximum of £5,000, and potentially face a term of imprisonment of up to 6 months. You could lose your employment (any future employment prospects could also be affected), and your car insurance premiums in the future could increase by up to 115%. The endorsement would remain on your licence for 11 years.

The drink/drive road test and tests in the police station are swift, often leaving the defendant little time to make clear decisions. It is vital that you seek experienced, specialist legal advice quickly.

There may have been problems with the procedure; your drinks may have been spiked or interfered with; you may have been given a stronger drink than you asked for without realising; you may have serious medical problems or there may have been an emergency that meant you felt you had to drive. We are not going to pretend that successfully raising any of these issues is going to be easy; it requires a huge amount of preparation and possibly the use of experts.

What can we do for you and how are we different from other motoring lawyers?

We have been practising in this particular field of law for nearly 33 years and have highly respected motoring defence lawyers amongst our team. We are an award-winning firm of lawyers, highly ranked by the leading legal ranking directories i.e. the Legal 500, Chambers UK, and Superlawyers UK.

We are not a small practice; often so-called specialist practices are run by one individual, but we have over 40 lawyers working with us.

We also have excellent success rates, and whilst some firms will only deal with clients on email or telephone, we would prefer to meet you in person to take your full instructions. In our experience, taking instructions other than in face-to-face situations can reveal important issues that are often missed in email/telephone conversation or in online questionnaires, no matter how detailed.

We do not charge anything extra for meeting with you, and our highly competitive rates are often based on fixed fee arrangements (unless it is particularly complex situation). Additionally, we only instruct experienced specialist motoring defence advocates whose work we know, and (unlike other firms) we do not just instruct any defence advocate at cheap rates. We insist upon the best to represent and advise our clients.

We operate an emergency 24-hour telephone service. Call 0207 387 2032 and our paging service will put you in touch with whichever of our top lawyers is on duty. S/he will call you back and help you. Alternatively, you can contact us using our online enquiry form here and we will respond quickly to your enquiry.