Failure To Provide Specimen While In Charge of a Vehicle
Kelly was walking home when she was stopped by the police. She was found standing close to a vehicle that had been involved in an accident, and she appeared to be inebriated.
Although Kelly didn’t have keys to the car, items belonging to her were found inside the vehicle. She was therefore arrested and charged with Failure to Provide Specimen – while suspected of being in charge of a vehicle – and being in charge of a vehicle whilst unfit through drink.
This is when Kelly decided to contact Forrest Williams. During our initial call, Kelly agreed to the offence of failure to provide specimen, and we decided that the best course of action would be to liaise with the prosecution to see if they would agree to drop the offence of in charge of vehicle whilst unfit through drink, if a guilty plea to the charge of fail to provide was entered.
Our liaisons with the Crown Prosecution Service were successful, and it was agreed that the second offence of in charge of a vehicle whilst unfit through drink was dropped.
We secured an experienced barrister to represent Kelly, who entered a guilty plea to the charge of Failure to provide specimen – person in charge of vehicle.
Sentencing guidelines for this offence range from 10 points to a disqualification, and a medium level community order. Kelly had several aggravating factors: her inebriated state showed serious impairment and she had only recently got her licence back from a disqualification she served for a drink driving offence.
Kelly met with a probation worker at court. The magistrates looked to sentence Kelly for a ban of 3 years, but thankfully due to our strong mitigation this was reduced to an 8-month disqualification and a low level community order.
Kelly was grateful for the proactive approach of liaising for a dropped charge, and her strong mitigation in court.
If you have been charged with failure to provide specimen and need expert legal help, call our team now on 01623 397200.
