Will

Last night my brother and two mates was walking from the pub. Down the

road where his house, his car was parked (he ran out of petrol that afternoon

).It started pouring down with rain so he and his mates decided to jump

in the car until it calmed a bit, so my brother puts the radio on as they were

chatting. Next thing the police pulled up, knock on the window.

Police man: What do you think you are doing

My brother: listening to some music waiting for the rain to calm down

Police man:You have been drinking

My brother:Yes im pissed why?

Police man:Get out of the car.

At this point my brother is getting out of the car while the copper puts the back of his hand against the bonnet to check if it was worm.

Police man: Have you been driving this tonight

My brother: off course not, i can barely stand for crying out loud.

Then the copper did a breath test on him, and off course he was over the limit, twice over the limit in fact.

Then he did a search on him and found his keys.

Police man: aha so what are these doing on you then

My brother: because my house keys are stuck to them, and i need them.

Police man: Right you are under arrest

My brother: You what, here take the keys and try and start it up your self, and then you can see it wont because there is no petrol in it!

Police man: no thanks sunshine. Can you turn round so i can put on the handcuffs.

My brother has a nasty cut on his wrist, and he asked the copper not to put them on too tight.

But plod wouldnt listen so my brother was screaming with pain, and his 2 mates even pleaded with plod to slacken them, but again he didnt want to know.

From the village to the police station which is 7 miles, my brother was pleading and begging them to slacken them but to no avail, and he could feel some thing warm in his hand.

At the station when they took them off my brother looked at his wrist and it was pissing blood, thanks to the cuffs.

My brother was worried if he was gonna be done for drink driving when he didnt even put the key in the ignition. But no he was arrested under Section 5,1b, which is
Driving or being in charge of a motor vehicle with alcohol concentration above prescribed limit


(b) is in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place.
after consuming so much alcohol that the proportion of it in his breath, blood or urine exceeds the prescribed limit he is guilty of an offence.

So in my brother's eyes he has been arrested for sitting in a stationary car sheltering from the rain.


So my question to you guys is, what is he looking at? a hefty fine or a bann etc etc?? As the coppers at the station wouldnt answer him.


And should he report the plod who put on the handcuffs? What do you think??

Abdabz

The charge is a fair one as he admitted he was clattered while in charge of the vehicle. Thats a harsh lesson nd unfortunate timing as he clearly had no intention to drive it and it couldnt move anyway.
From what little experience I have iif such matters he will be banned and I would hazard an educated guess at 6 months. A fine of about £200 ish.

As for reporting the copper - why not? It wont do much good as you wont get anything positive out of it, but a formal complaint is probably a pain in the *** for the silly pig and might make the idiot think twice before over zealously arresting and cuffing someone.

David Lock

See if you can find a recent thread on here with similar questions e.g peeps sleeping it off in their car but having keys on them. Doesn't look good if your bro was drunk in his own car with keys on him. Sounds like he needs decent legal help if he is charged.

The Zohan

Ask on the 5ive-0 site
5ive-o - Powered by vBulletin

lot of very helpful cops on there.

The Zohan

YHPM mate

Sonic'

Another forum I visit, a few people asked this question as some cars have seats that fold down to make beds etc, and they wanted to know where they stood if they got bladdered and went to sleep in the back of the vehicle

A couple of coppers on the site, said what they would do, and it largely depends on how you react to the officer when first confronted, and also if it is obvious that you have drove/going to drive the vehicle

Hindsight is a wondeful thing, but perhaps he should have give his keys to one of his mates

A question though, how was he listening to the radio in the car without the keys in the ignition, or was it not the car radio he/they were listening to ?

Every car I have ever owned the key has to be in the ignition and turned on for the radio to work

Sonic'

Another question, if the house was only down the road from the pub, and the car was only down the road from the house, why not just go to the house ?

Not wanting to sound too negative, but your Brother was in charge of a vehicle whilst over the limit, certainly if he had the keys on him, and was sat in the drivers seat

I would hazard a guess at a lengthy ban, and large fine, would suggest getting a good solicitor who specialises in this sort of thing, and also ask over on 5ive-o as has already been suggested

Will

I thought that too, but he said that you dont have to put the ignition on, you just push the power button and it comes on.

Will

Cheers

Will

The pub was 3/4 of a mile away from his house. It started to pour so started to run and seen his car, so they hopped in waiting for the rain to calm down

stilover

A good solicitor should be able to argue his case.

The engine was cold (so handn't been driven)
If the officer had tried to start the car (as advised to by your brother) he would have found that the car wouldn't be able to be driven as it had no petrol in.

I wouldn't accept the charges, and would deffo fight the charge in court.

He could get off. I suppose it depends on the judge on the day.

If found guilty, he's looking at a min 12 month ban (more if Way over the limit) a fine of a few hundred quid, and very high insurance renewals for the next 5 years.

BIG FUD

iTrader: (84)

Police broke my wrist with hand cuffs 6 years ago i complained they said i resisted there was 8 of them for 1 man wtf




sorry to here about ya bro, i belive even if you walk towards ya car u can get nicked for d/d is this true ...

LG John

He was stupid to get in a car drunk because the police LOVE to nail you for this even when it is very apparent you had not been driving and clearly didn't intend to.

If I was him I'd get a good lawyer quickly and absolutely ensure that there is evidence cataloged and witnessed that the vehicle does not have fuel in it and therefore could not have been started and operated as a motor vehicle.

Sonic'

stilover, it seems the charge isn't for drunk driving, the charge is being in charge of a motor vehicle whilst over the limit

I guess it will be a very difficult case to win, and will need a very good solicitor, a guilty plea may end up with a better outcome, as he has admitted to the officer that he was drunk and he was in the car, and he had the car keys on his person, I guess it would also depend if he was sat in the drivers seat also

I do think he should lodge a complaint re the handcuffs though

Luan Pra bang

In my limited experience a good soliciter will get him off this but it is important to pick a good one and plead not guilty.

skoobidude

What if it were a camper van and you got pissed and slept in that?
Obviously you would have the keys on you as it would need to be unlocked to get in
Fookin stupid law. They should only do you for driving a car pissed.

It's like getting arrested for being in an arguement because the police predicted that it would turn into a fight.

Nick

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Get a decent solicitor sooner rather than later.

In my experience, magistrates will totally ignore everything your bro says, and believe ANYthing plod says.

Just out of interest, has he filled his car up yet? Otherwise, he can't prove it was empty, and without that, in the eyes of the law, he WAS in charge of it, and IS guilty.
Sorry.

Alcazar

The Chief

Hes the best

Nick Freeman | Keep On Driving | Expert Legal Advice On All Road Traffic Matters | Mr LoopHole

Abdabz

I cant see the point in paying a solicitor to try and get the lad off... He was drunk in charge of a motor vehicle - there is no mitigating circumstances = a bit of rain is not an excuse and no magistrate in the world can award not guilty to a charge of being drunk in charge of a vehicle when he was drunk in charge of a vehicle
It's just a harsh lesson in life...

Sonic'

Sort of what I was trying to say

fatherpierre

He won't get off, or is highly unlikely to. If he goes not guilty then he'll get an even bigger ban/fine.

As pointed out, he is guilty on the description from the initial post. Probably just as guilty of naivety too.

Will

No he hasnt gone near the car since last night, he has left it where it is.

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

I suppose the problem is that every drunk just about to drive their car if stopped by the police will tell them they are just having a sit down and have no intention of driving it. Far better that the police stop them before they have a chance to drive off a run someone over rather than believing them, walking away and having to scrape some poor sod off the road half an hour later.

It is also quite well known that sitting in a car on the road is deemed as being in charge of it, so if you are drunk then dont do it ( funnily enough there is a similar law for bikes - you have to wear your helmet when in charge of it, so if it breaks down and you are pushing it on a public road, you are supposed to wear the helmet ).

SVXNUT

The SVX radio has a 1 hr timer function. I.e. you don't need keys to turn it on, you just push the button. All my vans are the same aswell. They turn themselves off after an hour to protect the battery. I use it all the time if I am overnighting in the van to get me to sleep in the services.

The ford radios do it as well, in my mothers Mondeo and my Grandads Fiesta.

Also if the radio is aftermarket they are usually wired direct to power scource, so don't need the ignition circuit.

By the way fight, even though technically he is guilty, I would say there are def. mitigating circumstances.

Good Luck

Boro

iTrader: (1)

A bit off that the copper wouldnt check the petrol level. Would have been pretty obvious if he had.

Bit late now, but if anyone gets in those situations and needs to prove a point, its always worth having your mobile out and set to record video.

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

Agree with others. I doubt he'll get off as technically he was in charge of it but i also think it is worth a formal complaint about the officer and also get on to the local paper to highlight the stupidity of the case. A quick "I'll drop my complaint if you decide not to prosecute" might go down well.

5t.

fatherpierre

The CPS prosecute, not the police.

The officer has no leverage as to this case.

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

He does if:

1. he hasn't filed with the CPS yet
2. Doesn't fancy the paperwork
3. Doesn't turn up to court.

5t.

Fuzz

So rather than going to get some fuel that afternoon and moving it, you left it and went to pub later and got pissed!...

Nice one!

SJ_Skyline

Just wondering - if this is a "crime" then who is the victim?