No Bus, Not Much Shelter

1) Refusing roadside breath test
2) Refusing evidential breath test (i.e at police station)
3) Various other minor bits and pieces.

Our man has decided (on his second appearance in court) that a guilty plea is the way to go. We hear the facts.

Def. admits to drinking seven pints of strong lager. He did not plan to drive home but he took a late decision to go for it. Reversing in the car park he hit a stationary car. The driver started to shout and thump on the roof of def's car, but def claims not to have noticed. Driving off, def manages fifty yards before hitting a concrete shelter. This he admits to having noticed.

Arrested, he refuses a breath test. At the police station, he continues his refusal.

We decided straight away that this was too serious for the usual fine, and ordered reports with a view to a community sentence, but leaving open the option of prison.

At this point we broke for lunch. We had so much business on that our man's case was transferred to colleagues in another courtroom whose trial had collapsed.

So I have no idea what he got, but my guess is that he was banned for about three years and given a community sentence of unpaid work. Because of his refusal to take the test the DVLA will have him down as a high risk offender, so he might never be granted a licence again.

That's what I call a routine case.