If alcohol has been added to your drink without you being aware of it, and you have subsequently been charged with drink driving, this can be used as a special reason to avoid a disqualification.
When putting forward a special reason, the onus is on the person facing the charge to prove it. In other words, you must prove that your drink has been spiked and this has what has resulted in you being over the limit. If the Court finds that a special reason applies to the circumstances of your case, it may decide not to disqualify you from driving.
When considering a spiked drinks case, the Court will consider whether the accused did know, or ought to have known that they were likely to have been over the limit. Therefore it is more likely to succeed in a case where the alcohol reading is only marginally over the legal limit.
In such cases, it is imperative that evidence is obtained as quickly as possible as over time, memories tend to fade. Wherever possible, statements should be obtained from the person who spiked the drinks or from other people who may have witnessed it. If the drinking took place in a public area or bar the spiking may have been captured on CCTV. This kind of footage is often automatically deleted after a certain period of time, meaning it should be requested as soon as possible.
Kenway Miller specialise in defending drink driving cases where drinks have been spiked. Time is of the essence here. The sooner you instruct us to start building your case, the greater our chance is of being successful in Court.
Get in touch with us today!
