Author: Shama K

When it comes to motoring offences, “drink driving” is often the term everyone knows. However, the law recognises several distinct offences, including “drunk in charge.” 

Understanding the difference can help drivers avoid serious penalties and protect their licences, especially if you rely on driving for work or family responsibilities.

What is drink driving?

Drink driving is one of the most serious driving offences in England and Wales. It occurs when a person drives or attempts to drive a vehicle while over the legal alcohol limit. The current legal alcohol limit is 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood, or 107 milligrams per 100 millilitres of urine.

The consequences of drink driving are severe: fines, licence disqualification, and even imprisonment. For professional drivers, such as taxi or HGV drivers, the impact can extend to loss of employment and career damage.

What does “drunk in charge” mean?

Drunk in charge is different from drink driving. This offence occurs when a person is found in control of a vehicle while above the legal alcohol limit, but not actually driving. 

The law recognises that simply being in a position to drive while intoxicated is dangerous. For example, sitting in the driver’s seat with the keys in your hand could be enough to constitute the offence.

While the penalties for drunk in charge are generally less severe than for drink driving, they can still include fines, penalty points, and a driving ban. Professional drivers or those who depend on their licence may still face significant personal and financial consequences.

How are these offences proved?

The key difference lies in the element of driving. For drink driving, the prosecution must prove that you were actually driving or attempting to drive while over the legal limit. For drunk in charge, the focus is on whether you were in control of the vehicle while intoxicated, even if stationary.

Police may use breath tests, blood tests, or witness evidence to determine your level of intoxication. Refusing to provide a specimen can itself lead to severe penalties.

Can you challenge a drunk in charge or drink driving charge?

Yes, in some cases, legal defences may be available. These could include issues with how the breath test was conducted, procedural errors by law enforcement, or evidence that you were not in control of the vehicle. 

A drink driving solicitor experienced in motoring law can advise on whether a defence may be viable and help minimise the impact on your licence and employment.

Why professional drivers should take this seriously

For taxi drivers, HGV drivers, and those relying on their licence for work, even a single conviction can have long-term implications. It’s important to seek expert legal advice immediately if you are facing a drink driving or drunk in charge charge.

Understanding the difference between drink driving and drunk in charge is crucial for protecting your licence and your livelihood. While the offences are similar, the legal definitions and potential consequences differ. Seeking timely legal advice can help you navigate the process and potentially reduce the impact of a conviction.

Even the most careful of drivers might occasionally exceed the speed limit, especially if you are in an unfamiliar area or new rules have recently been introduced. If you are caught by a speed camera, you’ll be sent a Section 172 notice and a Notice of Intended Prosecution within 14 days.

Sometimes, confusion or administrative errors can cause drivers to respond incorrectly to a Section 172 notice, or they may have another legitimate defence or mitigating circumstances.  Here’s what to know. 

What Is a Section 172 Notice?

A Section 172 notice is a formal request from the police asking the registered keeper of a vehicle to confirm who was driving at the time a speeding offence occurred.  The notice will be issued within 14 days of the offence, and you’ll be given 28 days to respond. Ignoring it or providing false information is a criminal offence with serious consequences.

Why responding correctly matters

Responding to a Section 172 notice is mandatory. Failure to do so can result in prosecution, a fine of up to £1,000, or six penalties on your licence. 

Impact on your licence

For professional drivers such as HGV or taxi operators, the consequences can affect employment and earning potential. Even non-professional drivers must be cautious. Accumulating 12 points on your licence within three years can trigger a six-month ban under the “totting up” rules. 

New drivers within their first two years risk losing their licence after just six points, highlighting the importance of careful compliance.

Potential defences

There are legitimate defences to speeding charges and Section 172 notice prosecutions. For instance, the registered keeper may not have been the driver, or there may be technical issues with enforcement equipment. Occasionally, misdirected post or other administrative errors may be mitigating factors where a timely response has not been made. 

In some instances, the courts may accept “exceptional hardship” as a reason not to impose strict penalties such as a driving disqualification. Navigating these defences, however, requires expert legal advice to avoid worsening the situation.

The importance of legal representation

Even if you think you have a good reason for not responding to a Section 172, it is not enough to assume that the courts will accept it. It is essential that you have gathered all the correct information and evidence to support your claim, and it is presented well in court. 

A solicitor specialising in driving offences can help you respond correctly to a Section 172 notice, explore potential defences, and minimise penalties. Legal advice is particularly valuable for preserving your licence, mitigating fines, and protecting your employment prospects.

Speeding offences and s172 notices are serious matters. Prompt and accurate responses are crucial to avoid escalating penalties. Whether you are a young driver, a professional driver, or someone who relies on their licence for work or family, understanding your obligations and acting responsibly is the best way to protect your driving record.

Many of us are in the habit of automatically reaching for our phones as soon as it rings or pings, or simply to fill an idle couple of minutes scrolling through social media. However, if you happen to be behind the wheel (even when stationary) you could be committing a serious offence. Here’s what the law says. 

The law on mobile phone use while driving

The law makes it an offence to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving, or even while sitting in traffic or stopped at lights with the engine running. The law still applies if you are in a vehicle that automatically turns off the engine when you stop. It also applies to people who are supervising a learner driver. 

This includes making calls, sending texts, taking photos, or scrolling through apps, or using your phone as a sat nav if it’s not secured in a proper holder. To do any of these actions legally in a vehicle, you must be safely parked. 

Even momentary use — such as unlocking your phone at the lights — can result in prosecution. The only exceptions are for genuine emergencies, such as dialling 999 or 112 when it is unsafe to stop, or making contactless payments at drive-throughs (as long as the vehicle is stationary).

However, you can use devices with hands-free access such as voice commands or a Bluetooth headset. You must not hold the device at any time while you are using it, and if police believe you are distracted even when carrying out hands-free actions, they may still decide to prosecute you. 

The penalties in 2025

The penalties for using a mobile phone while driving are strict:

• Six penalty points on your licence
• A £200 fixed penalty fine
• If the matter goes to court, fines of up to £1,000 (or £2,500 for lorry and bus drivers)
• A possible driving ban for repeat offences or serious cases

For new drivers, the stakes are even higher. Accumulating six points in your first two years after passing your test leads to automatic revocation of your licence. You’ll need to reapply for a provisional licence and re-take both parts of your driving test.

Why the courts take it seriously

Driving while using a phone is classed as “distracted driving,” which is a major cause of accidents and fatalities on UK roads. Courts take a strict approach, particularly for professional drivers such as taxi drivers, delivery drivers, and HGV operators. For them, losing a licence can mean losing a career.

Repeat offenders are at risk of a totting-up ban once they reach 12 points on their licence within three years. This results in a minimum six-month disqualification unless you can successfully argue that losing your licence would cause exceptional hardship.

What to do if you’re charged

If you’ve been caught using your phone behind the wheel, don’t ignore it. Seeking early legal advice can make a significant difference to the outcome. A solicitor specialising in motoring offences can assess whether the evidence against you is strong enough for a conviction, or represent you in court and argue to reduce penalties or avoid disqualification.

Getting behind the wheel of a car is an inherently dangerous activity when you’re sober. Add alcohol into the mix and you’ve got a potentially deadly combination.

This is why we have drink driving laws, designed to deter people from taking to the road once they’ve had a certain amount. 

Currently, the limit for drinking and driving in England and Wales is 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath (or 80 micrograms per 100ml of blood).

However, this could soon change in the near future, with the government considering reducing the limit to 22 micrograms, bringing it in line with that of Scotland.

While this is certainly commendable and will potentially make the nation’s roads safer for us all, confusion may still persist about what the actual limits are.

John Scruby, former South Yorkshire Police traffic officer and trustee of the Campaign Against Drink Driving organisation, told the BBC that it’s difficult to understand just what 35 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath actually means in practical terms. How many drinks does this actually cover? How many units of alcohol is legally permissible?

It’s also important to note that other factors can also affect the impact that drinking will have, including weight, age, sex, metabolism, the type of alcohol, food intake, stress levels and so on. 

This ultimately means that the limit will affect different people in unpredictable ways – so it’s not easy to work out accurately just how much alcohol will put you over the limit.

The only way to know with 100 per cent certainty that you’re within the legal limit is to avoid alcohol entirely if you plan to drive, so put plans in place for alternative modes of transport if required.

But if, for whatever reason, you do find yourself on the wrong side of the law and need the help of drink driving solicitors, get in touch with the Caines Law team today.

Although we all know that we shouldn’t drink and drive, it can be difficult to know how much is too much. This is especially true if you don’t feel as though you’ve been affected by the alcohol you’ve drunk.

Many of us might feel fine to get behind the wheel after a couple of drinks, but the reality is that alcohol can affect the length of time it takes us to process what’s happening around us, which slows down our reactions and makes it more likely that we’ll have an accident. 

In England, you are allowed to have a small concentration of alcohol in your blood, urine or on your breath if you are tested. In many cases, a breathalyser test is the first port of call if you are pulled over. 

This gives an instant result and you will be deemed over the legal limit to drive if it returns a result of 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath or more. But it is very difficult to work out what amount you can drink and remain under that limit. 

As the British Medical Association pointed out, the amount you can drink and remain under the limit varies depending on a multitude of factors, including your age, gender and weight. This means the best advice is to avoid drinking at all if you are going to drive. 

What to do if you get pulled over?

If you get pulled over for suspected drink driving by the police in England, they will normally conduct a breath test at the roadside. The result of this test will determine whether they take you to the police station for a more comprehensive breathalyser test.

The second breath test you take at the police station will determine whether you’re charged with drink driving. The police also have the right to request blood and/or urine samples for testing, although they may feel this isn’t necessary. 

If you get pulled over, remain calm. Do as the police officers ask and cooperate. Refusing to take a breath test or getting angry won’t help the situation. 

What happens if I get charged with drink driving?

There are varying penalties for drink driving in England. These range from a fine of up to £2,500 to a driving ban and even time in prison. 

Your penalty will be decided by the magistrate who hears your case, which is why it’s important that you hire drink driving solicitors to support you when you go to court. This could make the difference between you receiving the most severe penalty or escaping with a much lighter punishment. 

The magistrate hearing your case will take various factors into account when deciding your sentence and an experienced solicitor will be able to make the case for you to be acquitted, or certainly to receive a lesser penalty than the one the prosecution is seeking. 

Ultimately, it’s best to avoid getting caught for drink driving at all by avoiding alcohol if you plan to get behind the wheel, but if you do find yourself in the unfortunate situation that you are pulled over and fail a breath test, you need to ensure you get the proper legal representation to help you.

In addition to the penalties the court hands out, you could lose your job, not to mention likely face much higher costs to insure a vehicle in the future. 

The team here at Caines Law is made up of specialist motoring law experts, with extensive experience in handling all types of driving offence cases, delivering the highest standards of representation for all our clients.

Most recently, we took on a case where the defendant was facing prosecution for dangerous driving after a member of the public saw a livestream on TikTok of them behind the wheel and reported it to the police.

The police then succeeded in accessing the live stream, alleging that they had identified multiple instances of dangerous driving as a result and were able to monitor our client’s whereabouts. He was then arrested at the roadside for dangerous driving.

A not guilty plea was entered and the matter went to court for trial, with the defendant willing to accept the lesser charge of careless driving. This was refused by the prosecution, however, believing there was sufficient evidence for a dangerous driving conviction.

As such, the matter went to court. Attempts were made to have the TikTok footage excluded from the evidence on the grounds that it contained hearsay. Although this was accepted by the court, it was advised that the footage itself would be made the focus, with all hearsay elements duly ignored.

The defence argued that the speedometer was only visible in the video for a short amount of time, there was no loss of vehicular control, there was no accident and there was no evidence of racing. 

Furthermore, there was sufficient room for the manoeuvres taken by the defendant, with no other vehicles seen in the video having to take excessive corrective angles to avoid impact.

And the video footage also showed the defendant slowing down near roundabouts and roadworks, indicating that he was in control of the vehicle and able to take some degree of corrective action as appropriate.

An attempt to rebut this was made by the prosecution but the court found the defendant not guilty of dangerous driving, choosing instead to impose the lesser charge of careless driving, an outcome that the defendant was extremely happy with.

Commenting on the case, Caines Law solicitor Feroz Bhimani said: “Just because the police say it’s dangerous doesn’t mean it is dangerous driving. Often the police misapply the legal tests in overcharging unsuspecting motorists where a careless driving charge would be more appropriate. The differences in penalties are remarkable and often life changing.”

We defend all types of driving offences including drink driving, speeding, failure to report, failure to stop, failure to identify the driver, driving without insurance and more.

If you’ve been charged, summoned or are under investigation for a motoring offence of any kind, get in touch with the team today for a free consultation and we’ll be able to tell you if you have a defence.

There are a lot of driving laws that we need to be aware of in order to stay safe on the road and to avoid any serious repercussions. 

While many of these will be obvious and if we do break them we’re certainly aware of the fact (such as speeding or drink-driving), there are other smaller offences that we may be guilty of doing without even really knowing it. 

Here are just four common driving behaviours that could get you in trouble with the long arm of the law if you’re not careful.

Misuse of the horn

It’s not uncommon for drivers to lean on the horn out of frustration with other people on the road, but this is actually illegal and you should only use your horn aggressively or while the car isn’t in motion if you’re warning of present danger.

Splashing pedestrians

We’ve all seen it happen… drivers charge through a big puddle by the side of the road, often intentionally, to splash pedestrians walking past. This is, in fact, illegal and you could be hit with a fine of up to £5,000 or a fixed penalty if you’re caught in the act.

Tailgating

It’s quite easy to tailgate by mistake, where you drive too close to the car in front – although, of course, many people do this on the motorway on purpose if they deem you to be driving too slowly. Note that tailgating potentially counts as careless driving and you could get three points added to your licence as a result.

Playing music too loudly

We all know the joy of driving along with our favourite tunes to keep us company – but play your music too loudly and you could be breaking the law if it proves distracting and affects your driving ability. Fines of £100 and three penalty points could be yours as a result.

What to do if you’ve committed a driving offence

Don’t panic if you’ve fallen foul of the law and have to go to court for a motoring offence. Get in touch with the Caines Law team to see how we can help.

Did you know that you could face a mandatory 6 month driving disqualification if you accumulated 12 penalty points on your driving licence?

Imagine how our client felt when he was facing prosecution for several motoring offences which could have resulted in his licence being endorsed with 42 penalty points.

With our representation and legal expertise, we were able to help our client avoid an 18 month driving disqualification by putting forward an Exceptional Hardship argument based on the difficulties that his employer, colleagues and patients would face if he was to receive a lengthy driving disqualification.

Not only did the Court depart from the Sentencing Guidelines by imposing a driving disqualification of a mere 21 days, but this also had the effect of wiping clean all the points on our clients driving licence! Another great result from our Motoring Team!

Image Credit: https://festoonhouse.com.au/

Most clients receive penalty points on their licence and don’t particularly think anything of it. One of our clients recently received 6 points for allegedly driving at a speed of 92mph in a 50mph zone. At first instance, the client represented himself at Magistrates’ Court but having fallen foul of the justice system he was convicted despite his best attempts. He then instructed Caines Law to launch an Appeal in the Crown Court with a view to quashing the conviction on the grounds that he did not at any point travel at an excessive speed.

When the matter came before Croydon Crown Court, it was clear with our preparation and extensive research on the case, that the evidence against our client was extremely weak with clear discrepancies in the Police Officer’s statements. This was put forward by our barrister who made representations to discontinue the matte on the basis that the Police Officer had identified the wrong vehicle.

Not only was the matter thrown out of Court before the Appeal Hearing went ahead, but our client was also able to recover all of his legal fees and expenses! Another great result for Marc from our Motoring Team!

Caines Law are proud to announce that the excellent services they provide will now also be offered through their Personal Injury Department assisting clients who have suffered personal injuries through the negligence of another.