Drug Driving Defences | Free Legal Advice
Drug Driving Defences — Expert Video Guide
Being charged with drug driving can feel overwhelming — particularly if your blood test result came back over the prescribed limit. Many people assume that a positive result leaves them with no option but to plead guilty.
This is simply not true.
In this video, MAJ Law's specialist drug driving solicitors explain the range of defences available in drug driving cases, how the law works, and why a blood reading over the limit does not automatically mean you will be convicted.
What This Video Covers
Our solicitors walk you through:
- How the drug driving offence works under Section 5A of the Road Traffic Act 1988
- The prescribed limits for controlled and medicinal drugs — and why they are set so low that many drivers break the law without realising it
- The statutory defences available to drivers charged under Section 5A
- Procedural defences — errors made by the police at the roadside or at the police station
- Post-driving consumption — how this can provide a full defence in certain cases
- Private land and public road — why location matters in a drug driving case
- Identification — how the prosecution must prove you were the driver
Understanding the Drug Driving Offence
Drug driving was introduced in 2015 under Section 5A of the Road Traffic Act 1988. The law created a zero-tolerance approach for illegal drugs, setting prescribed limits at extremely low levels — in many cases below what science considers to impair driving ability.
For medicinal drugs such as diazepam, clonazepam, and morphine, there are prescribed limits — but these are set at levels intended to reflect therapeutic doses. In practice, many people who take prescribed medication in accordance with their doctor's instructions can still find themselves over the limit.
Unlike drink driving, where you can roughly estimate your alcohol level, it is almost impossible to know your drug level without a blood test. This makes it far easier to unknowingly commit the offence.
The Main Drug Driving Defences
1. The Medical Defence (Prescribed Medication) If the drug detected in your blood is a specified controlled drug (such as diazepam or morphine), and you were prescribed it by a healthcare professional, you may have a statutory medical defence under Section 5A(3). To rely on this defence, you must show that the drug was taken in accordance with a prescription or the directions of a healthcare professional, and that your driving was not impaired.
2. Procedural Errors at the Police Station As with drink driving, the police must follow a strict procedure when taking a blood specimen at the police station. They must complete the relevant MGDD booklets, give you the required statutory warnings, and offer you the opportunity to provide a blood specimen in accordance with the correct procedure. If any of these steps were omitted or completed incorrectly, the prosecution may fail.
3. Consent to the Blood Sample You cannot be forced to provide a blood specimen without your clear and unconditional consent. The police must inform you of your rights. A consent form — the HO/RT/5 Certificate — must be completed and signed. If this certificate is not served on the defence at least seven days before trial, it becomes automatically inadmissible under Section 16 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, and the prosecution case collapses.
4. Post-Driving Consumption The drug driving offence only applies if you were over the prescribed limit while driving. If you consumed the drug after you stopped driving — for example, if you had an accident, left the vehicle and then took medication — this can provide a full defence. The prosecution must prove the drug was in your system at the time of driving, not merely at the time the blood sample was taken.
5. Not Driving The prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that you were the driver of the vehicle. If the police did not witness you driving — for example, they arrived at the scene after the vehicle had stopped — this can raise a significant evidential challenge.
6. Private Land The drug driving offence only applies when you are driving on a public road or public place. In some cases, what appears to be a public place (such as a pub car park, hotel car park, or supermarket car park) may in fact be private land. The public having access to a place does not automatically make it a public place in law.
7. Laboratory and Analytical Errors A blood sample must be analysed by an approved laboratory using approved methods. We regularly obtain and scrutinise the laboratory data packs and quality assurance certificates to check for errors in the analytical process. If the laboratory procedure cannot be verified, the result may be unreliable.
MAJ Law's Track Record in Drug Driving Cases
MAJ Law is one of the UK's most experienced drug driving defence firms. We have won hundreds of drug driving cases — many of them on technical points of law that clients, and even other solicitors, were completely unaware of.
Our team understands the science behind drug driving prosecutions and the law that governs them. We know what questions to ask, what documents to request, and what errors to look for.
Watch the Video — Then Call Us
If you have been charged with drug driving, watch this video and then call our team for a free, no-obligation discussion about your case. Whether your blood result was just over the limit or significantly above it, you may have a defence that you are not yet aware of.
Our initial advice is completely free. Call today.
