Drink Driving in the United Kingdom

What is the drink driving limit, and how much can I drink?

England, Wales and Northern Ireland: 35 microgrammes per 100ml of breath (80mg per 100ml of blood). Scotland: 22µg and 50mg — far lower, and official guidance there is blunt: one drink can put you over. There is no safe formula — weight, sex, food, stress and metabolism change everything, which is why no lawyer or calculator will tell you an amount. The body clears roughly one unit an hour and nothing speeds that up, so a heavy night routinely leaves drivers over the limit the next morning. If you have to ask, don't drive.

Is a ban really automatic? I'll lose my job.

Yes — 12 months minimum on conviction for driving or attempting to drive over the limit, unfit, drug driving or refusal, rising to at least three years if you have any of those convictions within the previous ten years. Losing your job is legally irrelevant to it: "exceptional hardship" only exists for points-totting bans, not this one. The only way past the minimum is "special reasons" — spiked drinks you neither knew nor suspected, a genuine emergency, a trivially short and safe distance — proved by you, usually with expert evidence, and rarely successful. What you can influence is length: the band your reading falls in, your plea, and the course discount.

Should I refuse the breath test?

No — it is the classic mistake. Refusing the evidential specimen without reasonable excuse is a separate offence carrying the same minimum 12-month ban, the same custody maximum, and a sentencing guideline that treats deliberate refusal like the highest readings. Worse, every refusal disqualification automatically makes you a High Risk Offender, adding a paid medical with blood tests before you can ever be relicensed. "Reasonable excuse" means genuine physical or mental inability — a verified breathing condition, needle phobia with medical evidence — not wanting a solicitor first, and not distrusting the machine.

What sentence will I actually get?

England and Wales publish it. First offence, guilty plea: 36–59µg — a fine around one and a half weeks' income and a 12–16 month ban; 60–89µg — a fine and 17–22 months; 90–119µg — a community order and 23–28 months; 120µg and above — custody becomes the starting point (12 weeks, usually suspended for sentences this length since 2026) and 29–36 months. A guilty plea at the first opportunity cuts the sentence by up to a third. Second offence in ten years: three to five years off the road. Scotland applies the same statutory minimums through its own courts; Northern Ireland's penalties mirror the structure and add a compulsory retest after the ban.

How does drug driving differ from drink driving?

Since 2015 (2019 in Scotland; Northern Ireland has no equivalent — only the unfit offence), seventeen drugs carry set blood limits: effectively zero-tolerance for illicit drugs — cannabis at 2µg/L, cocaine at 10 — and higher thresholds for medicinal drugs like diazepam and morphine, with a defence if you took a prescribed medicine as directed. Penalties match drink driving — 12-month minimum ban, custody available — but with two harsher wrinkles: sentencing doesn't scale down for lower readings the way alcohol bands do, and there is no rehabilitation-course discount for drug driving at all. The conviction (code DG10) also sits on your record for 11 years.

I was asleep in the car, not driving. Am I still in trouble?

Possibly, for the lesser "in charge" offence — being over the limit with the means to drive, typically in or near the car with the keys. Penalties are lower: up to 10 penalty points or a discretionary ban, a fine up to £2,500, three months' custody at worst. But it carries the one genuinely winnable statutory defence in this area: no offence if you prove there was no likelihood of you driving while still over the limit. Courts examine it sceptically — where the keys were, which seat, the engine, your stated plan — so evidence matters. Ten points also brings totting territory if you have prior points.

How do I get my licence back, and what does this do to insurance?

Bans over 56 days mean applying for a new licence before driving again — DVLA writes to you near the end. High Risk Offenders (87.5µg+, any refusal, or two convictions in ten years) must first pass a paid DVLA medical including blood analysis. The endorsement stays on your driving record for 11 years; insurers ask about convictions and premiums rise sharply for years — and failing to disclose when asked can void the policy. The rehabilitation course helps twice over: up to a quarter off the ban, and some insurers rate course-completers better. Driving before the licence is properly back is a separate imprisonable offence.

Is this legal advice? Are you a law firm?

No. Legal Hotline is not a law firm. The line gives you clear general legal information about drink and drug driving law across the UK — the process, the published sentencing ranges, the deadlines — not legal advice on your specific case, and calling creates no solicitor-client relationship. When your facts need real judgment — a possible defence, a special-reasons argument, a High Risk Offender medical — we connect you with an expert motoring solicitor for a one-hour consultation at a fixed £145, bookable on the call.