What Is a DR10 Conviction?

If you have been charged with drink driving in England and Wales, you may have seen the code "DR10" on your court paperwork, or been told it will be recorded against your licence. A DR10 conviction is the standardised DVLA endorsement code for the most common drink-driving offence: driving or attempting to drive with an alcohol level above the prescribed limit. A conviction carries mandatory penalties and stays on your driving record as a criminal conviction for 11 years, but it may be possible to challenge a conviction and avoid the most serious penalties.

At JMW, we defend drivers every day against DR10 convictions, and those for related DR20 and DR30 offences. In this guide, our drink driving solicitors explain what is involved in a DR10 offence and the statutory defences that can challenge the charge.

What Are DVLA Endorsement Codes?

When a court endorses a driving licence for a motoring offence, the DVLA records a standardised code against your driving record alongside a number of penalty points. These endorsement codes are grouped by the type of offence, with DR codes covering drink and drug-related driving offences, and there are a total of five endorsement codes in this category. These are as follows:

• DR10: Driving or attempting to drive with an alcohol level above the legal limit
• DR20: Driving or attempting to drive while unfit through drink
• DR30: Driving or attempting to drive, then refusing to supply a specimen for analysis
• DR31: Driving or attempting to drive, then refusing to give permission for analysis of a blood sample that was taken without your consent because you were incapacitated
• DR61: Refusing to give permission for analysis of a blood sample that was taken without your consent due to incapacity (in circumstances other than driving or attempting to drive)

Each code comes with penalty points on a scale of three to 11, with more serious motoring offences attracting more points, and remains on your driving licence for 11 years from the date of the offence. While points are only considered for three years for the purposes of totting up (whereby accruing 12 or more penalty points leads to a driving disqualification), they can act as aggravating factors that lead to harsher penalties for other offences.

Further, insurers, employers and the police are able to view the relevant information online, and for an 11-year endorsement, third parties such as insurers and employers can see it during the first five years.

What Does DR10 Mean?

A DR10 is the DVLA endorsement code for "driving or attempting to drive with alcohol level above limit", which means a court has found you guilty of driving or attempting to drive with an amount of alcohol in your body above the legal alcohol limit. The court will rely on a breath, blood or urine reading taken by the police to establish this. A DR10 carries between 3 and 11 penalty points, although in practice the driving disqualification, rather than the points, is the headline consequence.

The prescribed limits for motorists in England and Wales are a maximum of 35 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath, 80 milligrammes of alcohol in 100ml of blood, and 107 milligrammes of alcohol in 100ml of urine. A reading above any of those thresholds could lead to you being found guilty of a drink driving offence and endorsed with a DR10 code.

What Are the Penalties for a DR10 Motoring Conviction?

Following a conviction for drink driving, the court must impose a driving disqualification for a minimum period of 12 months. This is mandatory unless a special reason exists that would allow the court to vary the disqualification period.

Depending on the circumstances, the court could also impose:

• A community order
• Up to six months in prison in serious cases
• A driving ban of a minimum of 36 months where there is a relevant previous conviction in the last 10 years
• An unlimited fine
• An extended driving test before you regain a full licence

If a second drink-driving offence is committed within 10 years, the minimum disqualification of one year is increased to three years, and there is a greater chance of custody or a community order. Where more than two drink-driving charges are brought in the same 10-year period, a prison sentence will often be considered. The penalties also increase where the drink-driving offence is linked to another offence such as careless driving, dangerous driving or speeding. In those cases the court takes account of the influence of alcohol on your standard of driving when assessing the overall danger to other road users.

In some cases the court offers an approved drink-drive rehabilitation course, which can reduce a ban of 12 months or more by up to a quarter on successful completion. JMW's role is to present your case fully and put forward the mitigation that gives you the best prospect of a reduced outcome. There are several defence strategies that we can employ to give you the greatest chance of a successful resolution, and we will explain your options up front so you can move forwards with confidence. You can read more about the offence and the sentencing framework on our drink driving law page.

How long does a DR10 stay on your driving record?

A drink-driving criminal conviction stays on your driving licence for 11 years from the date of your conviction. This is one of the longest endorsement periods in motoring law, and it is considerably longer than the four years that applies to many other driving offences.

While the offence will be considered spent after a set rehabilitation period has passed, this does not mean that it is removed from your criminal record, and it will continue to be visible to insurance providers and the police for the full 11 years before it is fully removed.

Beyond the legal impact, having a visible motoring conviction on your record can have other serious consequences. During the 11 years that the offence remains on your record, a drink driving conviction can continue to affect insurance premiums and lead to additional expenses. Insurers will view road traffic offenders as higher risk drivers, which can significantly increase the car or vehicle insurance costs they need to pay. It may also affect your ability to work and travel, which can have other impacts.

Can You Defend a DR10 Drink Driving Conviction?

There are several defences available for allegations of driving a motor vehicle while unfit through drink or above the legal limit. You cannot be convicted of drink driving if the procedure was not carried out completely correctly, which leaves a great deal of room for a strong defence based on challenging the prosecution's evidence. Our solicitors will guide you through each step, scrutinise the evidence and identify the points that the prosecution must prove. From there, we can build a bespoke defence strategy that meets your specific needs and is tailored to your circumstances.

Challenging the testing procedure

The police must follow a strict procedure when taking and analysing samples. As part of building your defence, we will work to identify any failures in the procedure the police followed. We also bring detailed technical knowledge of the breath testing machines used by the police and the methodology used to analyse a blood sample or urine specimen, supported by experts in forensic medicine, respiratory medicine and forensic toxicology. If there is any scientific or medical evidence that a reading may have been false, we will identify this and use it in your defence.

The right to a blood or urine sample

Where a breath reading is borderline, you have the right to provide a blood sample or urine specimen instead. The police must offer you the option of giving a blood or urine sample in two situations: where you have provided a borderline breath reading of 50mg or below but above the 35mg limit, or where the breath testing machine was unavailable or broken. A failure to offer that option correctly can undermine the prosecution's evidence.

Post-driving consumption and special reasons

A post-driving, or "hip flask", argument applies where you consumed alcohol after you stopped driving but before the test was administered, so the reading does not reflect your alcohol level at the time you were driving or attempting to drive. Special reasons are narrow factors that allow the court to avoid or shorten a disqualification even where the offence is legally proven. Recognised special reasons include driving only a very short distance with little risk to other road users, or driving in a genuine emergency.

Mitigation and exceptional hardship

Where a conviction cannot be avoided, mitigation is the process of presenting the full circumstances to the court to keep any sentence to a minimum. JMW is highly experienced in advancing relevant mitigating factors to ensure that a sentence is not excessively harsh. If you have attended an alcohol rehabilitation programme or otherwise shown genuine remorse, this may serve as a mitigating factor, for example.