Driving license revoked

5Aces

Two years ago a friend had his license revoked for six years. he was over the limit, sitting in the drivers seat outside his home with the engine turned off. the gardai went to his house for a separate reason and this resulted in his detention. he makes his living as a truck driver. he has not had much luck obviously with the barrister he was dealing with. he is in the process of of trying to get whatever information the gardai have on file under the freedom of information. as a general question in this forum what are the basic requirements to be done for operating a vehicle under the influence. has anybody been in a similar situation that they got resolved or appealed successfully? once he gets the info from the gardai he will get in touch with a new solicitor but anybody elses experience with something similar could be very helpful. a pm would be welcome if you dont want to post in the thread. thanks.

filthymcnasty

not really sure what your asking but to be done he would have to have been breathalysed and there should be documentation of this somewhere

The Aussie

From my meagre understanding is if he had the keys with him or on him the vehicle would be able to be operated so he is in charge of it, unless of course there is so weird arse law that could see you done for drink driving if your pushing a shopping trolly, btw your mate was bit of a spanner for being in there in the first place.

Overheal

Not sure what you're asking OP, but you can't ask for legal advice here on boards. And I don't advise anyone reading this to offer as much either.

Your friend really needs to seek the advice of a Solicitor whom is actually qualified and licensed to practice law; not some hoodlum on the internet who parades around as Megaman. The internet is full of lies and half truths. Did you know that cats can play the piano? Madness.











AH response: Get thee to a nunnery!

Legal advice in AH? :pac:

Plenty of illegal advice alright...

5Aces

Im not asking for legal advice as much as asking if anyone here has faced a similar situation that they avoided or successfully appealed the charge. he can justify being in the car as he left the house to be by himself to cool off and sat in the car instead of standing outside if that would make a difference. there would be garda statements to back this up. its a bad situation as he had no intention of driving the vehicle and he needs the license for his job. Is there a more suitable forum for this discussion?

Rabies

Motors is a best place I think.

dirtydiesel

Every case is different, two people could face the same charge in front of the same judge on the same day and get two different outcomes.

CreepingDeath

5Aces wrote: »

Two years ago a friend had his license revoked for six years. he was over the limit, sitting in the drivers seat outside his home with the engine turned off.

To be honest it sounds like he's as guilty as a puppy standing beside a pile of poo. If the guards were called due to some domestic argument, and he left the house and got in his car, then he had the intention of driving.
If his keys were in the ignition, then that would be pretty damning too.

guil

even if he manages to get the ban lifted, he's gonna be a while before he can get in a truck again and now every new applicant has to take and pass the driver cpc

tenchi-fan

It has to be proven that he was driving the car, attempted to drive it or had the intention of driving it while intoxicated.

Chances are the cops asked him a straightforward question, he admitted to having the intention to drive (being drunk he didn't have the sense to deny everything!), and got himself arrested. Otherwise his barrister would easily have been able to get the case thrown out.
The barrister would have received the gardai report so I'm not sure what sort of freedom of info requests you're referring to.

Also, if he was banned for 6 years it means it's his second offence. Or at least the ban was for another motoring offence in addition to drink driving. I think the roads are probably safer without your friend!

cup of tea

Keys on his person or even worse in the ignition...very hard to defend.A tip if your drinking in the car or after drinking and sitting in the car....put the keys in the boot.

5Aces

I dont know if it is a second offence or if he had the keys in his pocket as he would have walked back from his local that night. i emailed the freedom of information organisation to see if he could request the arresting gardas statement and any test results. next thing to find out is what exactly constitutes drunk driving if your sitting in the driving seat outside your home.

dudara

His license was hardly revoked for being over the limit - did he have previous incidents, convictions, points or endorsements?

5Aces

Not that i know of but it is not a case of reaching his points limit or he obviously would given that as a reason but as a side point if that were the case and the charge could be reversed so too would the additional points i would assume. i dont know if there are any previous charges but his license was valid when this happened. for now im assuming the car was taxed and insured.

markpb

5Aces wrote: »

i emailed the freedom of information organisation to see if he could request the arresting gardas statement and any test results.

The Gardai are exempt from the FoI laws so you won't have any luck there. Perhaps his solicitor can ask the Gardai for them?

tenchi-fan

5Aces wrote: »

I dont know if it is a second offence or if he had the keys in his pocket as he would have walked back from his local that night. i emailed the freedom of information organisation to see if he could request the arresting gardas statement and any test results. next thing to find out is what exactly constitutes drunk driving if your sitting in the driving seat outside your home.

The best way to help your friend is to tell him to get to a solicitor. He obviously hasn't told you the full story and the guards are not going to deal with you because you clearly are not in a position to help your friend.

His solicitor would already have been provided with the garda report, and your friend would have been provided with a copy of the intoxilyser reading. information on drink driving offences and penalties is available on citizensinformation.ie

Henry Ford III

A 6 year drivng ban suggests more than a simple dd conviction.

MagicSean

dudara wrote: »

His license was hardly revoked for being over the limit - did he have previous incidents, convictions, points or endorsements?

Every drink driving conviction carries a mandatory ban. But they start at two years. But a 6 year ban would require previous convictions or some other factor.

weeder

mate of mine was in a similar situation before only he lives in an estate and it was in the middle of the day and the car he was sat in didnt run at the time, the garda told him to take the key out of the ignition as he was technically drink driving but if the key was out then he couldnt, he argued that the car didnt even run anyway but he was told it doesnt matter as long as the key is in.

if the car was parked inside a garden wouldnt it be on private property?

galwaytt

tenchi-fan wrote: »

It has to be proven that he was driving the car, attempted to drive it or had the intention of driving it while intoxicated.

Not so. The offence is being in control of a vehicle, whilst under the influence - not necessarily actually driving.

weeder wrote: »

if the car was parked inside a garden wouldnt it be on private property?

It would, but the law doesn't stop at the garden gate........car parks are a good working example of private land, where you're still subject to the law.

tenchi-fan

galwaytt wrote: »

Not so. The offence is being in control of a vehicle, whilst under the influence - not necessarily actually driving.

It would, but the law doesn't stop at the garden gate........car parks are a good working example of private land, where you're still subject to the law.

are you sure about "being in control of a vehicle"? I know this is an offence in the UK but not necessarily the ROI.

As for the garden gate theory... once again, are you sure? Car parks are considered public property in many respects, not so for private driveways... although the offence is having an intention to drive .. I'm sure a good barrister and a reasonable judge would get this thrown out.

MagicSean

The legislation is Section 50 of the Road Traffic Act. It is an offence to be drunk in charge of a vehicle in a public place. If it was not a public place his solicitor probably would have argued that the first time he was in court so he was probably on the street outside the driveway or something.

JonathanAnon

Henry Ford III wrote: »

A 6 year drivng ban suggests more than a simple dd conviction.

I agree. Four years is normally the max for first offence. This would be if he had been in the top category. A friend of mine got six years also but he has been done twice before.

His solicitor can ask in court for a copy of Garda statements against him under the Gary Doyle ruling. The solicitor will then get a copy of these statements and see if there are any grounds for challenging the conviction.... this can be anything ..i.e.. misspellings, inconsistencies, infringement of civil liberties..... He will then have the option to plead guilty or not guilty (and then challenge the prosecution in court).

The most important thing is to get a GOOD solicitor, and not all of them are.. One solicitor sent a letter on my behalf saying "my client's car was forced to break"...ridiculous....... You have to trust you solicitor completely, and never be afraid to a) question every word he/she says or b) bring your papers to another solicitor for second (or even third) opinion.

This is just my opinion, I'm not a solicitor, but if I stepped over the mark mods, feel free to delete.