Drink and Drug Driving

James Murray Solicitors has been established since 1991 and, from that time to the present day, we have consistently conducted trials on behalf of clients charged with offences of Drink or Drug Driving.

People sometimes think that there is some glorious “ loophole” in the law that they can take advantage of, or that their “ brief” will come up with some elaborate plan to ensure they win their case.

Our vast experience has told us one thing; there is no quick fix to winning any type of case. To succeed, there is no substitute for hard work and a total dedication to getting your argument over the line.

We cannot promise you a win, all that we can promise you of will be “ blood, toil, tears and sweat”, to quote Winston Churchill. Our Promise to you is that there will be no quick fixes but there will be a huge amount of hard work put into your defence.

So, before we start talking about what tactics can be employed in your case, we will keep our powder dry until we have considered the prosecution paperwork in full.

We will also want to take your instructions at the earliest possible opportunity, once we have received the prosecution paperwork. That is the starting point of how we begin to build a case for you.

Other firms may try to blind you with science, advising you of your defence before even looking at the Prosecution case. That type of approach is wasteful. You see, the devil is in the detail. Before you can advise your client as to the strengths of their case, you have to know the weaknesses of the opposition case.

So, if you have been charged with drink or drug driving, you may have decided to look at this section of our website in the hope of discovering some type of glorious defence. You won’t find it.

The key to your case will be the instructions that you provide to us; you may have a pearl of information relating to your case, such information that could make the difference between a driving disqualification conviction and an acquittal. But until you have told us about it, we wont be in a position to act on that information.

We conduct all types of defence work in this field, from the very technical arguments relating to the admissibility of evidence to the more straight forward arguments, that will often depend upon old style, heavy duty advocacy in Court.

Your case will almost certainly require the cross examination of Police Officers. We know how to do this and do it well. Again, preparation is everything.

If your case questions the admissibility of the evidence of the breath specimen from the Camic Datamaster, this is the apparatus that is used by the Police to test for alcohol in breath. we have an expert, from a leading Forensic Laboratory, who is a leading authority on that machine. He would be instructed as part of your defence.

Or perhaps you dispute driving the motor vehicle or wish to put forward a Special Reason as to why you drove the motor vehicle. Again, these are the sort of cases we are regularly being instructed upon.

There might be an argument to put before the court that relates to the procedure that has been adopted by the Police during the drink drive procedure at the Police station.

Whatever your case, whatever your concerns, James Murray Solicitors will have dealt with that type of matter.

WE WILL DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO ACHIEVE THE BEST RESULT POSSIBLE FOR YOU.

Here are some examples of questions that we are often asked, about drink and drug driving.

q. What are the legal limits for drink driving?

In England and Wales, the alcohol limit for drivers is as follows:

Blood = 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood
Breath= 35 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath
Urine= 107 milligrammes per 100 millilitres of urine.

q. What are the legal limits for drink driving?

Cocaine = 10 microgrammes
Benzoylecgonine = 50 microgrammes
Cannabis= 2 microgrammes
Ketamine= 20 microgrammes
MDMA ( ECSTASY) = 10 microgrammes
Heroin = 5 microgrammes

( this list is not exhaustive and we have cited the most regularly detected drugs)

q. if I am banned, can I apply to get my driving licence back earlier?

Firstly, if you are convicted of drink driving, you may be able to persuade the Court to offer you the drink drive rehabilitation programme. If you take the programme and pass it, you will find that you will receive a reduction in your disqualification of approximately 25 %. Please note, the Court does not have to offer you the course, it is entirely at its discretion. If you are interested in trying to secure your place on such a course, call James Murray Solicitors on 0151 933 3333, to discuss your options.

Presently, there are no such courses available for drug driving offenders, therefore such individuals would serve the full disqualification.

However, there is a category of defendant who might be able to apply to have their licence returned earlier. If your driving disqualification was for 3 years or more, you may be entitled to apply to the court for the early return of your driving licence.

Such applications have to be very carefully prepared and presented. The applicant has to demonstrate a change in his/ her circumstances.

If you are serving such a disqualification, don’t hesitate to contact James Murray Solicitors on 0151 93333, as we specialise in making such applications to the Court.

Q. If I am convicted what is the likely sentence going to be?

The Court has sentencing guidelines which it will refer to when sentencing takes place. We have provided a link for you to consider those guidelines. ( PLEASE ATTATCH LINK TO MAGS COURT SENTENCE GUIDELINES FOR DRINK DRIVE)

To date, no actual guidelines for drug driving has been provided to the courts. However, the starting point, upon conviction for drug driving, will be a minimum 12 month driving disqualification.

Once you have looked at those guidelines, the most important thing is not to panic. Contact the James Murray Motoring team on 0151 933333 , to discuss the practical application of those guidelines to your case.

Let James Murray drive you forwards.

James Murray Solicitors…. Putting the M INTO MOTORING.