Is it possible to appeal drink driving ban.

Fud Duddy

A friend's wife was caught driving over the limit, she tried but failed to give a breath test, being asthmatic, so she was taken back to the station as far as I know. In court she got a 4 year driving ban.
The question I have is, Can she appeal it and if so what are the chances of having the sentence reduced.? She is 13 months off the road at present.
Please, can we not debate the wrongs of drink driving. She is well aware of how stupid it was. Thanks for any replies in advance.

Jo King

Fud Duddy wrote: »

A friend's wife was caught driving over the limit, she tried but failed to give a breath test, being asthmatic, so she was taken back to the station as far as I know. In court she got a 4 year driving ban.
The question I have is, Can she appeal it and if so what are the chances of having the sentence reduced.? She is 13 months off the road at present.
Please, can we not debate the wrongs of drink driving. She is well aware of how stupid it was. Thanks for any replies in advance.

How do you know if she was over the limit if she was not tested?

timmywex

She failed to provide a specimen of breath

The fact that she is or isnt an asthmatic doesnt come into it, the machines are designed for such people


Naturally it can be appleaed, but since no specimen was provided, theres prob little chance of an appeal being succesfull

dats_right

timmywex wrote: »

Naturally it can be appleaed, but since no specimen was provided, theres prob little chance of an appeal being succesfull

Ignore that piece of misinformed advice OP.

The issue here is not an "appeal" of the sentence, because technically none is possible as drink driving offences carry certain mandatory disqualification periods from driving and a Judge has no discretion to vary these disqualification periods downwards. If an appeal was lodged (and probably too late in the day now) it would have been based on seeking to have the conviction overturned.

However, whilst an appeal isn't possible, what is possible is to make an application to the District Court for an early restoration of driving licence. As a rough rule of thumb an application can only be made after half the ban has been served. The District Court can then choose to exercise its discretion to restore a driving licence, usual grounds for early restoration include; work related grounds, family illness, etc or some other compelling reason why licence should be restored. Anyway, the person concerned should talk to a solicitor for advices on the procedure and likelihood of success.

Victor

dats_right wrote: »

Anyway, the person concerned should talk to a solicitor for advices on the procedure and likelihood of success.

Indeed. One thing to note was that the law was changed in, I think the Road Traffic Act 2006, making it more difficult to reduce the duration of a ban.

Fud Duddy

Thanks for the advice guys I'll pass it on.