|
I'm thinking of buying a camper van and want to know if you can drink alcohol when not driving and stationary. Say for example i was parked in a lay-by on a public road and decided to stay the night and had a few beers. Could the police charge me with under the influencce while in charge of the vehicle?
|
|
Drunk in Charge could potentially be made out - not exactly the same sort of process as drink driving (evidentially different) has a defence/mitigation of the likelyhood of driving. Short answer to your question is Yes.
|
|
It may be a technical yes, but working on the grounds of common sense I think you would be very unlucky to be taken to court for being 'over the limit' whilst parked up in what essentially is a live-in-vehicle. That is unless you were sitting in the driving seat, revving the nuts off it, whilst totally legless.
|
|
I saw on one of those police progs that they arrested someone drunk in charge on the basis that he was in the drivers seat with the keys in ignition ( engine off i think ). Besides, unless you are actually looking like you are trying to drive it, surely being drunk in a vehicle would also apply to drunk passengers. Presumably if your in the back, your not the driver?
|
|
drunk in charge - refers to being in a vehicle that you have the potential to drive (on public land the police have every right to charge you
|
Stay out of the driver's seat.
Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 5: "If a person ... is in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place, after consuming [excess] alcohol [then] he is guilty of an offence [but] it is a defence for a person charged with [such] an offence to prove that at the time he is alleged to have committed the offence the circumstances were such that there was no likelihood of his driving the vehicle [with excess alcohol]".
Generally, if you're nowhere near the driving seat, there's little or no prospect of being charged. So don't give the police any reason to suppose you might be thinking of doing something silly.
As PU said, really.
|
|
|
|
There is a defence if arrested:
Show to satisfaction of court there was no likelihood of you driving the vehicle whilst excess alcohol was still in your system.
|
|
|
i know someone who got nicked,when drunk went to get something out of his car outside his house,. drunk in charge of a vehicle.
so dont be in possesion of the keys, or left in ignition.
|
Thats a blow but when you are drunk sometimes you don't think!
I can confess I was once drunk out my head behind the wheel of a Ferrari! Came out at end of a wedding and one of the guests had a Ferrari and people were crowded round it and were all taking it in turns to sit in the driver's seat and rev the engine to listen to that glorious sound.
It was only the next morning, after the hangover kicked in, that I realised that if police had happened to appear I would have lost my licence. Ironic thing is the groom was a policeman as were half the guests!
|
|
Another thought is the legality of overnight parking in a public lay-by. The police may ask you to move on, then you'd be in a sticky wicket.
|
Another thought is the legality of overnight parking in a public lay-by. The police may ask you to move on then you'd be in a sticky wicket.
if you had already greeted the policeman with 'good evening osifer' the likelyhood of being asked to move along would have given way to a 'request' that they drive you somewhere else, but at least then you would have a bed to sleep on :-)
|
you can do a fair bit to help yourself though
if the ignition keys are not in the ignition, the beds are all made up for sleeping in, you're in your jim-jams, all the pots/pans/glasses etc are out on the sides
in other words glaringly obvious you're there for the night
thinking laterally how about putting a clamp on one of the wheels, you'd be hard pushed to drive it then
|
|
|
|
Came out at end of a wedding and one of the guests had a Ferrari...Ironic thing is the groom was a policeman as were half the guests!
Wages aren't so bad for the BiB then ? :)
Say for example i was parked in a lay-by on a public road and decided to stay the >> night and had a few beers.
I thought camping in a layby was a no no. You would be a bit stuffed if the Police came and asked you to move along.
Edited by gmac on 20/07/2008 at 10:48
|
Two examples Ii know of with vehicles:
1. Someone who has been drinking goes back to his car to sleep in the back seat as he's had a drink. Police stop him when opening the car (remote locker) and charge him with being drunk in charge. He was not going to drive but he lost his license all the same.
2. A friend of our sons broke down in his van. Because his father part owns a garage with a low loader he was going to wait until the morning to get it recovered - he knew about cars so it was not going to be fixed that night. So he slept in the rear which has no access to the passenger compartment at all. And he bought some alcohol. Police somehow realised someone in the back and charged him. He lost his license. He couldn't even drive the car if he wanted to because he'd broken down!
|
So Rtj 7 your friends were unable to convince the bench of their statutory defence:
" a person shall be deemed not to have been in charge of a [ mechanically propelled vehicle] if he proves that at the material time the circumstances were such that there was no likelihood of his driving it so long as he remained unfit to drive through drink or drugs.
The court may, in determining whether there was such a likelihood as is mentioned in above, disregard any injury to him and any damage to the vehicle."
From ther Act notice where the defence has to be consiodred - Court and not at the road side.
So lets put it this way. YOU, yes YOU are on patrol and come across vehicle at road side or public place (which can be a Caravan park). There is the driver, in the back seat, with ignition keys in glove box. By his appearance and breath well lathered and clearly unfit to driver. You are not in possession of breath screening device. You are faced with a person who is clearly unfit to drive. He is however in charge of the vehicle and he slurringly states no intention of driving.
Decision time. Do you accept that he WILL NOT drive in the future whilst blood/alcohol proportion above the prescribed limit and leave him after which he does drive and the worse scenario happens?
Or, arrest and Station Procedure confirms high alcohol content (or clears) and let him put forward his defence at Court.
It is not an easy decision to make and one can see why Plod would err on the side of caution.
The message is clear folks and they have been banging at it since 1987 (RSA)
Any alcohol in connection with or around a motor vehicle is a NO NO NO.
dvd
|
>>The message is clear folks and they have been banging at it since 1987 (RSA)
>>Any alcohol in connection with or around a motor vehicle is a NO NO NO.
I think we are getting away from the OP's orignal question somewhat. He is asking specifically about a camper van, now to me that is a 'home' that happens to also be mechanically propelled. I really do think it would be very difficult to be convicted of drunk in charge etc in this type of vehicle unless you were doing something very suspect physically behind the steering wheel.
|
"So Rtj 7 your friends were unable to convince the bench of their statutory defence"
Exactly. One was someone a friend knew but the van driver I also know because he's a friend of our son. A real problem for him too as the van was used for his business. I think he was foolish mind.
To answer the OP, I would think if the camper van was at a campsite and the driver had been drinking it would probably be fine. If at the roadside then probably not. If you've been drinking tonight you might not be fit to drive tomorrow morning either.
I wonder if we could extend the question to someone in a caravan at the roadside drunk... they could drive off too.
|
|
|
|
It must be an awfully long time since my BiL, then a student on the run from the army after deserting during national service, got a lift in a Chevy-load of expansive US airmen along the A40 to London. The three airmen in the car had a bottle of brandy, a bottle of whisky and a bottle of gin which they were passing round and all taking swigs from as the car went faster and faster through White City and Shepherd's Bush. In Holland Park Avenue they started hurling the empties out of the windows and getting new full bottles out of a crate. But by then it was all a bit of a blur as they had made my BiL join in with the bottle-passing. When they reached Leicester Square the driver stopped, opened his door and fell out onto the road, cursing cheerily. My BiL left briskly but unsteadily.
|
.
For the offence to be complete you have to be ?on a road or other public place.?
Park elsewhere is one answer.
|
. For the offence to be complete you have to be ?on a road or other public place.? Park elsewhere is one answer.
I support this view - many of the lay-bys in our county are marked "do not park overnight". Many a trucker and camper haver been asked to move on at 2am. If the bib don't do you for drunk in charge, they'll do you for obstruction.
Not worth it in either case - find a camp site, park up, put the keys in the glove box and be merry.
But don't forget - you could still be over the limit in the morning.............
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
cant you find a superstore car park to rest up on, you may even find the booze on special offer and you could even use their in store customer conveniences to freshen up in the morning?
|
|
Could still be a public place within the meaning of the act.
|
|
|
|
|
hi if you want to have a drink in camper van i would stash egnishion key 500 meters or so from van under a rock or hung up on a branch out of veiw im not shure about distance thare is a set distance if police catch you in van while drunk with keys in your poseshion you can get dun for being in charge of a motervehical while drunk if stashed outside you can allways say you lost them and are going to look for them in morning and you can allways lock doors from inside then happy days crak a can open
|
|
Hier - please see my comments on your other post.
|
|
|
|
Yes hide keys in a bush and say you lost them.
The Police appear to have very little to do these days apart from account for their existence. Round here they sit in pub car parks for hours.
|
|
You do not need to have the keys to be charged. Lets face it you could be parked on a slope and let the hand brake off and roll down the road. I recall a BMW being parked at Gleneagles and the driver had opened the car and left the keys at reception. The police woke him up and nicked him for being in chage of the car. Regards Peter
|
You do not need to have the keys to be charged. Lets face it you could be parked on a slope and let the hand brake off and roll down the road. I recall a BMW being parked at Gleneagles and the driver had opened the car and left the keys at reception. The police woke him up and nicked him for being in chage of the car. Regards Peter
Indeed - the offence is "being in charge".
Does handing over the keys to a non-drinking travelling companion, SWMBO in my case, mean that they're in charge, assuming they're a properly licenced/insured driver?
|
|
|
|
|
