Recent case: drunk in charge

Sleeping a night out off in your car can cause you a lot of trouble

Our client, Alun, was accused of being drunk in charge ofa motor vehicle after he was found sleeping in his car at 8am. Alun had no qualms about admitting he had been drinking and was likely to be over the drink driving limit. He was arrested and at the police station provided a specimen that showed he had 45μg of alcohol in 100ml of breath – he was thus 10μg over the drink driving limit.

Alun explained to police that he had been out at various clubs and had taken a taxi home. He said that he had attempted to show the police officer the taxi receipt but the officer refused to look at it. Alun was locked out of his home as he had lost his front door key while out and so decided to sleep in his car – when searched no house key was found but Alun was directly outside his own front door.

Despite him being a few feet away from his home, the police decided to charge Alun with being drunk in charge. So, he called the London Drink Driving Solicitor for help. He told us that he attempted to call his brother in the night to get his spare key but his brother did not answer – telephone records to prove this were produced. Alun told us that his brother would have brought the keys to him, which is exactly what happened when the police released him. We advised him that he had a full defence to the allegation as there was no likelihood of his driving – this is known as the “statutory defence”.

We prepared Alun’s case by obtaining expert evidence to show when Alun would have fallen below the drink driving limit and witness statements from his partner, who had been away on holiday, to show when she would have arrived home. We also took a statement from Alun’s brother confirming that he had received two missed calls and some WhatsApp messages from his brother while he had slept. Alun’s brother said that had he answered the calls he would have taken the keys to Alun and that is what he did do when Alun called him after being released by the police.

We also obtained copies of the police interview with Alun and prepared a transcript to show that the comments Alun made in interview did not reflect the summary prepared by the police.

Once everything was prepared, we wrote to the prosecution serving our evidence upon them and asking that they discontinue the case against Alun. They reviewed the material and discontinued the prosecution the week before Alun’s trial was due to take place.

Alun was very pleased and said that the result as not a surprised as, “… I was very confident that we were well prepared”.

If you require expert legal advice for being drunk in charge ofany other offence involving alcohol and motor vehicles, then do not hesitate to call London Drink Driving Solicitor on 020 8242 4440.