Cengolio · Fines · Drink driving
The reading sets the ban.
A drink-driving ban is not a flat twelve months: the guideline table runs it from 12 to 36 months by the alcohol reading, in breath, blood or urine. A rehabilitation course cuts up to a quarter off, a second offence inside ten years lifts the floor to three years, and from 87.5 micrograms a medical line crosses the middle of the table that the table itself does not show.
Table, bands and high-risk line per the Sentencing Council guideline, effective 24 April 2017, live page read 17 July 2026; course reduction s. 34A RTOA 1988. Checked 17 July 2026.
This reads the guideline table; it does not sentence anyone. The starting point applies irrespective of plea, and where the reading sits inside a band, aggravating and mitigating factors move the outcome within the range and sometimes outside it. Special reasons, s. 34(1) RTOA 1988, can shorten or avoid the ban entirely, and they are rare and narrowly read. The guilty-plea third cuts the fine, not the ban.
The course is normally offered to a first-time offender, rarely a third time, and the offender pays the fees; the cut lands only on satisfactory completion. From 87.5 micrograms in breath, 200 in blood or 267.5 in urine, or after a refusal or a second ban in ten years, the high-risk offender scheme adds a paid DVLA medical before the licence comes back. A 12-week custody starting point rarely means immediate custody: since 22 March 2026 terms of 12 months or less carry a statutory presumption of suspension. Where any of this lands in a real case is argument and circumstance, and none of it is arithmetic.