Driving with excess alcohol and the 12-month minimum ban
Checked 17 July 2026 · How we check our figures
What it is
The charge of driving or attempting to drive with excess alcohol, s. 5 Road Traffic Act 1988, is what everyone calls drink driving, and it arrives as a charge sheet from the station or a postal requisition with a court date rather than the usual letters. The offence is imprisonable, so it cannot travel the Single Justice route; the hearing is real and in person. What the paperwork does not say: the ban is mandatory at 12 months minimum, its length sits in a published table keyed to the reading, the hardship door of the points system does not exist here, and a court-approved course can cut the ban by up to a quarter.
Reading the notice
The reading on the charge is the number that sets the range: microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, against a prescribed limit of 35, s. 11 Road Traffic Act 1988, which is why the sentencing table starts at 36; blood and urine readings have their own columns in the same table.
The offence line matters as much as the number: driving or attempting to drive carries the mandatory ban, while in charge, the parked-car variant, carries 10 points or a discretionary ban under its own table (Sentencing Council, Excess Alcohol in charge, Revised 2017).
The date on a requisition is a hearing date; the postal plea forms of the Single Justice Procedure do not apply to this offence.
The decision in front of you
A guilty plea meets the table: bans of 12 to 16 months from a reading of 36 to 59, 17 to 22 up to 89, 23 to 28 up to 119, and 29 to 36 with custody in prospect from 120, with the fine income-based at Band C in the lower ranges (Sentencing Council, Excess Alcohol drive or attempt, Revised 2017, checked 2026-07-17); the guilty-plea reduction on the money runs on the fine bands guide's sliding scale, and the clock is the hearing date itself.
The rehabilitation course, where the court offers one, trades money for time: taken at the offender's own cost, it cuts the ban by up to a quarter, s. 34A Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988; this is the court's drink-drive course, not the police course of the speeding letters, and the reduction stands or falls with the certificate clock, s. 34B.
A not guilty plea sends the case to trial on the ordinary criminal standard; the narrow special reasons route, spiked drinks being the standing example, can spare the ban without disturbing the conviction, and it is case law territory, not a listed defence; a conviction after trial loses the plea reduction, with costs at the court's discretion.
Staying away is the one move with no upside: the court can proceed in absence or issue a warrant, the ban starts whenever it is imposed, and nothing about the reading improves with age.
What happens next
The ban runs from the day it is imposed, and driving inside it is a separate imprisonable offence, s. 103 Road Traffic Act 1988.
High risk offenders, a reading of 87.5 or more, a failure to provide, or a second drink-related disqualification within 10 years, get their licence back only after satisfying the DVLA medically, at their own cost (Sentencing Council, Excess Alcohol drive or attempt, Revised 2017).
A second conviction within 10 years carries a minimum three-year ban, and other repeat patterns carry raised floors of their own (Sentencing Council, Excess Alcohol drive or attempt, Revised 2017); the DR10 stays on the driving record for 11 years from conviction (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-16).
The numbers
Twelve months is the floor of the mandatory ban, rising by table to 29 to 36 months from a reading of 120 (Sentencing Council, Excess Alcohol drive or attempt, Revised 2017, checked 2026-07-17).
The course reduction: up to a quarter off the ban (s. 34A Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988).
The record: DR10 endorsed for 11 years from conviction (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-16); the money side is income-banded, mechanics in the fine bands guide.
The deadlines
No fixed penalty notice or conditional offer attaches to this charge; the hearing date on the charge or requisition is the operative clock.
The course only counts if completed by the date the order sets, at least two months before the reduced ban ends, s. 34A(6), and the completion certificate must reach the court before the unreduced ban runs out, s. 34B.
A second conviction within 10 years of the first triggers the three-year minimum (Sentencing Council, Excess Alcohol drive or attempt, Revised 2017).
What people get wrong
Hoping for the exceptional hardship door: that argument belongs to the points ban of s. 35 and the totting up guide; the drink drive ban is mandatory under s. 34, and only the narrow special reasons route, case law, sits beside it.
Booking the course late: the reduction bites only through the certificate, and a certificate arriving after the reduced period simply moves the release date to the day it lands, s. 34B.
Reading in charge as the lesser same thing: the parked-car variant has its own table and its own trap, since sleeping it off with the keys can still be in charge; the two charges part company at the first line of the paperwork.
Authority
ss. 5, 11 and 103 Road Traffic Act 1988; ss. 34, 34A and 34B Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988; Sentencing Council, Excess Alcohol (drive/attempt to drive) (Revised 2017); Sentencing Council, Excess Alcohol (in charge) (Revised 2017); gov.uk