Drug driving and the specified limits

Checked 22 July 2026 · How we check our figures

Jump to: The decision · What next · Numbers · Deadlines · Mistakes

What it is

Drug driving is two offences, not one: driving while unfit through drugs under s. 4 RTA 1988, and driving with a specified controlled drug above its limit under s. 5A, where impairment is beside the point. The stop usually begins with a roadside drug swab, and that kit screens for cannabis and cocaine only, while the blood test at the station can reach all 17 listed substances (gov.uk, drugs and driving, checked 2026-07-22). What the charge sheet undersells: in the main the limits for the illegal drugs sit near zero and the medicinal ones above normal therapeutic levels, and the medical defence for prescribed medicine is real but narrower than the phrase suggests (SI 2014/2868, as amended).

Reading the notice

The roadside order of events: a field impairment assessment or the swab, then arrest, then blood or urine at the station; it is the specimen that carries the prosecution, not the roadside kit (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-22).

The charge names the substance and the measured blood concentration against its limit; the limits are set per drug in the Drug Driving (Specified Limits) (England and Wales) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/2868).

A conviction for the driving offences sits on the licence for 11 years (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-22); which code depends on the offence, /fines/codes/dg10 for the limit offence and /fines/codes/dr80 for unfit through drugs, with the in charge versions at /fines/codes/dg40 and /fines/codes/dr90 on the shorter clock.

The decision in front of you

Plead guilty and the reduction works on the fine, not the ban: the guilty plea discount at /fines/guilty-plea-reduction applies to the financial side, while the 12 month minimum disqualification stands, and the drink world's course reduction has no drug twin, the statutory course scheme is written for drink offences (ss. 34A to 34C RTOA 1988).

Raise the medical defence where the drug was prescribed: it needs supply and use in accordance with the directions given, it falls where advice not to drive was ignored, and once properly raised the prosecution must disprove it beyond reasonable doubt; s. 4 remains available where the driving was actually impaired (s. 5A(3) and (4) RTA 1988; CPS legal guidance).

Contest the charge and the case turns on the specimen and the procedure around it, ss. 6 to 7A RTA 1988: the analysis is the case, and the fight is technical (CPS legal guidance).

Do nothing and the process does not pause: the court can convict on the papers, and because the ban is mandatory, non-attendance tends to end in a warrant or a further hearing rather than a quiet outcome.

What happens next

The blood result often takes weeks, and release under investigation fills the gap; the clock the prosecution runs on allows for that, 6 months from sufficient evidence reaching the prosecutor rather than from the offence, with an absolute ceiling of 3 years, s. 6 Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988.

After conviction the gov.uk page is blunt about the shadow costs: insurance costs increase significantly, an employer who checks the licence sees the conviction, and travel to countries like the USA can become difficult (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-22).

A conviction can also put the medical side of the licence in play where dependence is in question, the eyesight and medical revocation guide's territory.

The numbers

The sentence frame: a minimum 1 year driving ban, an unlimited fine, up to 6 months in prison and a criminal record (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-22).

The record: the conviction shows on the licence for 11 years (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-22).

The outer edge: causing death by careless driving under the influence of drugs carries a maximum of life imprisonment (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-22); a second drink or drug driving conviction within 10 years raises the minimum ban to 3 years (s. 34(3) RTOA 1988).

The deadlines

The charge clock runs from knowledge, not from the stop: 6 months from sufficient evidence reaching the prosecutor, and never more than 3 years after the offence, s. 6 Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988.

No fixed penalty notice or conditional offer attaches to drug driving; the road runs through court, and the ban starts on the day it is imposed.

The 11 year licence record runs from conviction; the in charge codes run 4 years from the offence, dated on the code pages.

What people get wrong

Treating prescribed as safe: the defence needs the medicine taken as directed, it disappears where advice not to drive was ignored, and s. 4 still reaches driving that was actually impaired (s. 5A(3) and (4) RTA 1988; CPS legal guidance).

Reading the list of named drugs too literally: codeine is not named, but the body converts it to morphine, which is, and regular use can cross that line; the prescriber's advice is what the defence hangs on (SI 2014/2868; s. 5A(3) RTA 1988).

Taking a clear swab as the end of it: the roadside kit sees two drugs, the blood test can reach all 17, and an unimpaired-looking driver can still be over a limit, just as an impaired one can be prosecuted under s. 4 with no limit crossed (gov.uk).

Authority

ss. 4, 5A and 6 to 7A Road Traffic Act 1988; Drug Driving (Specified Limits) (England and Wales) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/2868), as amended; ss. 6, 34 and 34A to 34C Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988; CPS legal guidance, drink and drug driving; gov.uk, drugs and driving: the law