Drug Driving Solicitors

If you’re convicted of drug driving, you'll be disqualified from driving for at least 12 months. 

Depending on your case, the court can impose a longer disqualification. The court will also order you to pay a fine, or complete a community order, or you in the most serious cases, you can be sent to prison.

If you’ve previously been convicted of drug driving, drink driving, driving whilst unfit through drink or drugs, or failing to provide a specimen in the last ten years, you'll be disqualified for a minimum of three years.

If you plead guilty at the first hearing, the court should give you credit for this guilty plea. This credit will be reflected in the fine, community order or prison sentence only. It won't be reflected in the disqualification.

The law specifies the controlled drugs and the limits for the purposes of drug driving. These are:

You can also be prosecuted for driving or attempting to drive or for being in charge of a motor vehicle while unfit.

Yes, if the police require you to complete a roadside breath test, an impairment test, or a preliminary drug test, and you don't comply, the police can arrest you for failing to complete the test without a reasonable excuse.

The police must prove all the elements of the offence, and we'll review your case in detail and advise you on the strength of the evidence against you. The police need to prove:

• Driving or attempting to drive, on a road or other public place
• That you were in a charge of vehicle on a road or other public place
• That you had a specified control drug in your body and the amount of the controlled drug in your body exceeded the specified limit.

If the police pull you over, you may be asked to complete a preliminary drug wipe. If the results of this are positive, the police will arrest you, take you back to a police station, and ask you to provide a specimen of blood or urine.

The police will then send this specimen to a laboratory for testing. If the results confirm you are over the specified limit of a controlled drug, you'll be charged with drug driving.

The police have strict procedures which they must follow when requiring a blood or urine sample from you. The laboratory also needs to provide all the documentation relating to their analysis. The prosecution must show complete continuity from the specimen being taken from you to when it is being tested in the laboratory.