What happens when you lie to the police?

I don’t mean a considered deliberate lie, but a ‘heat of the moment’ panic lie to the police?

We were recently contacted by a gentleman who had crashed his car into a phone box. No other vehicles were involved, no one was injured, no alcohol or other drugs were involved.

To put it simply our client was tired. More than that, he was exhausted. He had been up most of the previous night then all day and had again worked long into the night and now, at 2 am, was finally making his way home. It was dark, he was close to home and all he wanted was his bed. And in that moment, at low speed as he approached the final turn before he reached his home village, he closed his eyes and was gone.  He fell asleep.

He awoke split seconds later when his car hit the phone box.

He was alert enough to ring 999.  He knew he needed to get checked, he knew there was a risk of damaged electrics and exposed wires, of fire from the engine damage. And when the police asked him what had happened, in the heat of the moment and not wanting to say he fell asleep, he uttered the fateful words he came to regret: “I don’t know what happened, I must have blacked out for a second”.

He never wanted to or planned to lie to the police. 

Our client contacted us because his license was revoked for 6 months because the DVLA had been notified that he was experiencing “unexplained loss of consciousness”.

Of course our client knew what had happened, he fell asleep and hadn’t wanted to admit that.

We worked with our client to prepare a case to ask the DVLA to reconsider their position. We reviewed the medical records from the evening and provided specialist reports to the DVLA confirming that our client had been assessed and no suggestion of seizures or other health issues which can cause loss of consciousness had been found. We explained that our client had simply used the wrong words when explaining what had happened.

The DVLA have now invited our client to reapply for his licence.

At Forrest Williams we know that words can be misinterpreted, and that sometimes we use words we don’t realise could make a bad situation worse. We will work with you to make sure that your voice and your story is heard.

If you are experiencing a problem with the police, courts or DVLA then give the Forrest Williams Team a call on 01623 397200. We will listen to your side of the story, we will review the evidence against you and we will work with you to try and obtain the best possible outcome to you.

Tags: police