As we all know, drink driving is a serious offence, and if you’ve already been convicted, you’ll be aware that the kind of punishments that get meted out are potentially extremely heavy and damaging. But as with any other offence, there are many permutations, many different possible circumstances for the offence itself, and also, different avenues of defence. Importantly, though, if you are to have any hope of defending a charge or of avoiding a drink driving ban, you will need the expert support and advice of experienced drink driving solicitors.
How can drink driving solicitors help me?
Aside from being able to keep you informed of the legal process and your options throughout the police and court proceedings, drink driving solicitors specialise in exactly the scenario you are up against. This means that they understand the decision-making process of the court, what information they are taking into account – for example, what details of your driving record and what aspects of your personal or business life – and what criteria the court will be using in order to decide the details of your penalty. They will even know the history of the judge who is presiding of your case, and so can make specific recommendations in relation to that information.
Crucially, your motor lawyers may be able to reduce or avoid a ban by convincing the court that a driving ban would bring about a case of exceptional hardship.
What is exceptional hardship?
A 6-month, or longer, drink driving ban can have serious repercussions for your personal life and livelihood. Maybe you are a business owner and you rely on your ability to drive in order to continue your business. Even just a short driving disqualification could be extremely damaging – you might even have to make people redundant. Maybe you’d struggle to make the payments on your house. Or maybe the services that you provide are essential and your not being able to complete them would cause problems for other people.
These kinds of scenarios are not uncommon and are what could allow your motor solicitors to successfully argue a case of exceptional hardship. This means that the effects of a driving ban would be so serious and severe that such a penalty could be considered unfair or unduly damaging. The best and most experienced drink driving solicitors are successful in 90% or more of their cases as a result of employing this kind of tactic in their cases.
Drink driving is a major offence that can cause all kinds of harm to drivers and innocent victims. But even though it’s rightly taken very seriously by the courts, that doesn’t mean that you will automatically lose your licence if convicted.
