Over the limit, but her drinks were laced

We represented the defendant in Llanelli Magistrates Court on 7th August 2009. She was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, but in her defence she explained that she had not known that her drinks of bitter lemon had been “laced” with gin. This potentially gave the magistrates “Special Reasons” not to issue the normal disqualification from driving.

In order to establish there were “Special Reasons”(on the Authority of Pugsley -v- Hunter 1973) the defendant has to establish that their drink has been “laced”, that they did not know or suspect their drink was “laced” and that, had the drink not been “laced”, the alcohol level in their blood would not have exceeded the prescribed limit. Usually this involves calling medical scientific evidence, but in this case, in addition to the defendant’s own testimony, two witnesses were called who gave evidence that they had put gin into her bitter lemon drinks as they believed she would not be driving again that evening.

The Magistrates found that there were “Special Reasons ” not to disqualify the defendant from driving, and so she retained her driving licence.