Teenage Drink-Driving

In a recent review of Hampshire’s drink-driving statistics, it has been revealed that a rather significant and surprising number of offenders were under the age of 18.

In Hampshire, it was discovered that between 2008 and 2013, there were 276 underage drink-drivers caught, and of those, 74 of them were under the age of 16. It has been described by various children’s charities as ‘terrifying’.

The worst area in the country affected by underage drink-driving was Greater Manchester with a staggering 409 under-18s being arrested for drink-driving.

The youngest offender of this crime was, shockingly, aged only 11, from the Thames Valley area.

Marolin Watson, from the charity Hope UK, which provides drug and alcohol training and advice to children, said: “Children who drink are endangering their health and setting themselves up for early liver disease, with all its very unpleasant consequences.”

A lot of people don’t understand that you can be banned from driving even before you have passed your test. The penalties for drink driving differ for people under 18 but the disqualification remains the same. The penalties will depend on whether you have any previous offences of any nature but the threat of prison can remain in certain circumstances.

Even if you are underage and don’t have a licence you can also argue special reasons for not being disqualified, see our Special Reasons page.

For details on how we can help mitigate any penalty see our Drink Driving home page –

HAVE YOU OR YOUR CHILD BEEN CHARGED WITH DRINK DRIVING?

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We are grateful to Alex Moore, who recently joined us for work experience, for this blog post.