Drivers have been warned they face a £2,500 fine for standing by their cars over the Christmas period.
And, if worst comes to worst, they could even find themselves locked up for three months.
Car insurance site Vanarama found that standing by your car while intoxicated can result in three months’ imprisonment, up to £2,500 in fines and a possible driving ban.
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Actually driving or attempting to drive under the influence raises those to six months’ imprisonment, unlimited fines and a driving ban of at least one year, or three if you’re convicted twice within a decade.
Causing death by careless driving while intoxicated could result in 14 years behind bars, unlimited fines, and a two-year minimum ban. You’ll also have to complete an extended driving test before the licence is returned.
A Third Of Drivers Could Get Behind The Wheel After Champagne On Christmas Day
Vanarama presented 1,000 respondents with five scenarios, from the office party to a tipple with Christmas dinner, breaking down the proportions of those with false confidence in the law.
The responses show that one in five UK adults – or eight million drivers – have no clue that it takes just two small glasses of wine to take your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) beyond the England, Wales and Northern Ireland limit of 0.08%, or 80mg of alcohol for every 100ml of blood. In Scotland, that limit is 0.05% and 50mg of alcohol.
Worse still is that nearly a third of respondents believe a glass of champagne with the Christmas Day roast would have no effect on their ability to drive. Against the UK driving population (36 million), that means just over 10 million drivers could be risking it this year.
Applied to the population as a whole, as many as 19 million UK adults could be the driver or passenger of a car operated under the influence of alcohol on Christmas Day.
Four Million Drivers Could Be At Risk The Morning After A Christmas Party
The company also quizzed participants on the amount of time required for your body to process alcohol and drop below the drink-drive limit. When asked if 12 hours was enough to stabilise your BAC after five pints of lager and two vodka singles at the work Christmas party, more than one in ten were confident it was.
In actual fact, this level of alcohol could take up to 50% longer, meaning four million drivers could be caught red-handed the day after work festivities this year.
You’re 11 Times More Likely To Die In A Vehicle Crash If You Drive Over The Limit
Affecting reaction times, coordination, vision and even our judgement, alcohol is best served without driving. According to independent charity Drinkaware, even drivers with a BAC of less than 0.05% (roughly one and a bit pints of lager) have a three-times risk of dying in a vehicle crash. Those between 0.08% and 0.10%, equivalent to only three or four pints, are 11 times more likely to die in a crash.
Although there’s been a drop in recent years, 7,800 people are estimated to have been killed or injured in 2019 when at least one driver was over the limit, according to the Department for Transport’s latest published statistics.
How Much Do I Need To Drink To Be Over The Limit?
So, we know the UK’s drink-drive limit is 80mg of alcohol for every 100ml of blood (or 50mg for Scottish motorists), but how does that translate into actual drinks? Below, they've some common choices and how many hours it takes one helping to be processed by the body.
| Drink |
Hours required before driving |
| Large glass of wine |
5 |
| Sex on the Beach |
4 |
| Double vodka |
4 |
| Pint of cider |
4 |
| Long Island Iced Tea |
3.5 |
| Pint of lager |
3.5 |
| Pina Colada |
3 |
| Can of lager |
3 |
| Glass of champagne |
2.5 |
| Single gin |
2.5 |
Hours required based on one serving of each drink. Figures from morning-after.org.uk.
Although one serving of each of the above wouldn’t necessarily take you beyond the drink-drive limit, the time required shows how long alcohol can hang about in your system. Perhaps most surprising is that a large glass of wine, at five hours, takes longer to process than the likes of a Long Island Iced Tea or double vodka.
Even the least potent single gin would need two and a half hours to be undone.
