Am I in danger of getting done?
I've got a weekend away planned with some friends and have booked a room in a local pub-hotel.
They allow check in from 4pm by which time we'll be away seeing a game and undoubtedly having a couple of beers with it. The hotel says I can leave my car in their car park in the morning and they allow check in until late. But I have to get my overnight bag out of the car at that point, I'm not planning to lug that round all day.
What course of action would you take to make it clear you're getting a bag out of a car in a car park, not attempting to drive under the influence?
Point plod to this thread as evidence of premeditated action.
Not getting in it and driving it?
Honestly it wouldn't even cross my mind. I'd just pluck it out of the boot, relock and stagger off to the hotel.
I would avoid getting into the drivers seat, putting the keys in the ignition, or making any 'brum, brum' noises.
But seriously, it's a non issue
Try and get it without carrying the keys with you? If it's a hotel I'm sure no one will question you getting your overnight bag out of it.
Ask nicely if a member of the hotel staff can do it. It must be a tiny risk, but maybe higher near a football match.
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You'd have to be impressively drunk to try and drive a car by getting into the boot. You'll be fine.
Ask the hotel if they have a “bag room” you can put your bag in prior to checking in, then no need to go back to the car.
Or check-in first, then go and get your bag, only opening the boot, not the drivers door.
way way over-thinking it.
You’ve got a room booked, proof is there!
When you arrive ask the hotel if they'll take your bag, or if you're really bothered (which I wouldn't be), when you get back to the hotel, go check in and put your coat etc in the room then come down to the car and just go to the boot while wearing 'inside' clothes.
There's no formal definition of being 'in charge', but police would struggle unless you were found sitting in one of the seats with the keys in your possession.
Opening a door to take a bag seems no problem to me. Opening the boot even less so. Are you planning on being so drunk that you might pass out on the seat during the process?
Some hotels will have a bag drop service prior to check-in, if you're that worried!
You have waaay too much headspace available.
just go to the boot while wearing ‘inside’ clothes.
This is the way. Only approach the car wearing a nightshirt and cap so there is no confusion.
1. Is the car park a public place?
If not it ends right there
2. Do you intend to re-assert control of the car?
Some good suggestions above. You could zap the locks from reception and hand the keys over if you're concerned. Walk out, collect bag and reclaim keys. Zap locks, go to bed
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/4
Is this a serious question?
Could you mount some kind of remote-activated catapult in the boot so that when you click the button, it fires your bag at you across the car park?
If you make sure you are blindfolded and have your hands tied up so there is no way you could be seen to be driving then you should be ok. Better take out an advert in the newspaper just incase and give the police a phone call before you start operation nighty-whity
They have to prove an intention to drive, being booked into the hotel, recovering a bag from the boot isn’t showing intention. You won’t get done.
no THEY don’t - you have to prove (but only on balance of probabilities) that: the circumstances were such that there was no likelihood of his driving the vehicle whilst the proportion of alcohol in his breath, blood or urine remained likely to exceed the prescribed limit.
I’d suggest that having booked a hotel room, having checked into that hotel room, having prearranged to leave your car there before checkin opened would all go a long way towards showing that. Ensuring you don’t use your “right to remain silent” when you have a clear defence is quite important. Certainly going to the boot not the drivers door is consistent with the defence but walking across the car park with the keys in your hand is technically enough to show the “drunk in charge” offence. A “no comment” interview (legally often a good idea when it’s their burden to prove something) will not help you. If you are drunk enough to do it whilst the cops stand watching they might have a point! I suspect most people who find themselves in court for drunk in charge for these sort of circumstances have failed at attitude test at the time: “where are you going? None of your business”.
I think the OP is probably being a bit paranoid - in general cops are dealing with drink driving for a specific reason (accident, phone call reporting it, or because they can clearly see you struggling to get into your car drunk) not because they are bored and want to go back to the warm police station. BUT in general people should probably think a bit more about whether they are in control of a car when it’s just sitting in a car park. Having a defence and having several months of hassle and stress going to court to establish that defence are not the same thing.
finally - if you will be that drunk by checkin time that a passing cop is likely to take interest, have you considered checkout Time too?
Can you book an appointment with a Justice of the Peace to observe you removing the bag from the boot?
Or could you bring a wheel clamp with you, attach it when you arrive, and then throw the key down a nearby drain?
Martin,it's so sad .
He's a lost soul,spends his days looking for Brian Cant(RIP).
Whatever you do don't ever buy a campervan! You'll have a meltdown trying to think that through 😂
Am I in danger of getting done?
Only if you phone 999 and report yourself.
The chances of
A) there being a police officer in the car park
B) them bring remotely interested in breathalysing someone taking a bag out of their boot
Are slightly lower than Claudia Schiffer arriving on my doorstep to profess her love
Why the heck are you getting your own bag... surely the correct action is to stagger into the hotel lobby...bark instructions along the lines of "you there, serf...retreive my bag..." whilst gesticulating at someone why may or may not be a hotel worker... and slump up against the bar whilst awaiting you 29fth drink of teh day...
DrP
Whatever you do don’t ever buy a campervan! You’ll have a meltdown trying to think that through 😂
"Ask nicely if a member of the hotel staff can do it. It must be a tiny risk, but maybe higher near a football match. "
Be sure to tip them handsomely!
Having a defence and having several months of hassle and stress going to court to establish that defence are not the same thing.
Sounds too risky to me.
Have you considered staying sober and only drinking alcohol-free beer? It would seem to be the most sensible course of action.
Honestly, I think this is overthinking to the Nth degree...
I've popped to and from a car parked in hotel lots MANY times... to plug in a charger, to get something... NEVER have I considered it being seen as 'driving or intent to drive'...
I imagine the scenario would go like this:
Police - "allo allo allo, what you up to then son?"
Me - "burp..getting this bag and phone charger, as you see there (points to hotel, of which car park my car's parked in) is my partner, toothbrush, lobby bar, and the rest of my party"
Police - "ok"
DrP
But I have to get my overnight bag out of the car at that point, I’m not planning to lug that round all day.
Leave it with the hotel when you check in. Ask them to put it in your room when it becomes available
Is this a serious question?
This is what happens when you run out of 'what tyre' threads.
Give the car keys to the night porter and ask him to open and close the boot for you.
Or stop wasting people's time and open it yourself.
Or you could hide it in a safe place away from the car and then leave yourself a series of riddles to help you find it again.
If this is in Cambridgeshire your first challenge is even finding a police officer to arrest you. You could try calling them in advance, might improve your chances but I doubt it.
I would avoid getting into the drivers seat, putting the keys in the ignition, or making any ‘brum, brum’ noises.
This.
My brother got a 1 year ban for this. Drunk after a party he was just settling down to sleep it off in his drivers seat when plod knocked on his window.
This is the most STW risk averse question ever raised on STW.
HTF would anyone think this was ever a possibility?
Couple of points to cover here.
1. The car park of a hotel is a place to which at the material time the public has access, and is therefore, for the purposes of this legislation, a "road or other public place."
2. Theoretically, simply being near the car with your keys in your possession, is enough to form a suspicion that you are "in charge of" the vehicle.
3. A police officer, suspecting that you are unfit through drink or drugs to drive the vehicle and suspecting that you are in charge of the vehicle, could lawfully arrest you without even breathalysing you.
OR
4. Suspecting that the proportion of alcohol in your blood is over the prescribed limit, AND that you are in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or public place, the office can demand a breath test.
THEN
(i) if you take and fail the test the onus is on YOU to prove that you weren't going to drive, which under the circumstances a hotel room for the night booked in your name and a simple explanation that you were fetching your bag should suffice
(ii) you refuse to take the test. Here's where the trouble starts. The test has been requested lawfully, and you, without good reason have refused to provide it. The offence is complete. It now no longer matters whether you can prove you weren't going to drive, as the mere suspicion that you were in charge is enough to make the request lawful. It's the refusal that is the offence, and this will result in a fine, a ban, and its own thread on STW.
As the person making charging decisions in custody areas I have tried to reason with and persuade more than one person who has simply refused to give a sample as the circumstances of the "in charge" or "suspected to be the driver" could be challenged, but an outright refusal to provide in these circumstances will inevitably land in court.
Eh? I regularly get stuff out my car from my driveway when I’m in no fit state to drive it. That’s not even slightly illegal.
would you be worried about sleeping in a camper van if you were pished? God forbid you are actually inside the vehicle then!!
