Exceptional hardship pleas cannot be made in drink driving cases. Drink driving is a major cause of injuries and fatalities on the roads, and is taken very seriously by the police and the courts.
Sentences will reflect the circumstances of the case, and a solicitor can advise a defendant on mitigating factors to put before the court. If the court accepts these, then the sentence could be significantly reduced.
Take, for example, a driver whose alcohol level was above the legal limit, and who reluctantly decided to drive a seriously injured friend to get medical help. If the injury constituted a genuine emergency, and other means of transport were unavailable or would have taken too long, then this could be put forward as a mitigating factor. While the driver is still guilty, the courts may decide the circumstances warrant a relatively light sentence.
Exceptional hardship pleas, on the other hand, are for drivers facing a disqualification because of the totting up of licence points. Drivers who have accrued 12 or more penalty points on their licences within a three-year period will face a mandatory driving disqualification. This will be for a minimum of six months, but can be for a longer period. For an exceptional hardship plea to succeed, the defendant must convince the court that the ban would cause exceptional and disproportionate hardship.
Pleading exceptional hardship is no easy task, and it is always advisable to get expert guidance from totting-up solicitors. It is important to make your case clearly and provide supporting evidence. The courts will only consider lifting the driving ban if they are convinced that the hardship is truly exceptional. For example, if a driver needs to drive to work and pleads exceptional hardship on the grounds that a ban will result in loss of employment, the courts will want to know why other means of transport are unavailable (e.g. taxis, lifts from colleagues, public transport).
Whether you find yourself facing a drink driving charge, a totting up ban, or are accused of any other driving offence, get in touch with solicitors at Auriga Advocates, who can give sound advice based on their wide experience of defending driving offences.