Alcohol & the law

Someone must be 18 years old or over to buy alcohol wherever it's on sale, including bars, off-licences and supermarkets. It's against the law to sell alcohol to someone who's drunk. Also against the law is buying alcohol (not just in pubs, but in supermarkets, corner shops etc) for anyone under 18, except for those aged 16 and 17 years old if ordering food and with an adult.

The UK legal limit for drinking and driving is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, even though at this level a driver's twice as likely to have an accident as someone who hasn't drunk at all. You might not feel under the influence, but the law is only interested in how much alcohol is in your system as shown by a breathalyser or blood test.

Penalties

The penalty for driving over the legal limit can be one or more of the following:

• driving ban of at least one year
• up to £5,000 fine
• up to six months in prison.

Someone convicted of causing death by dangerous driving can get up to 14 years in prison and a driving ban of at least two years. An endorsement for a drinking offence stays on your licence for 11 years. You can be charged for attempting to drive a vehicle even without actually being caught driving.

What's over the limit?

One large glass of wine or two pints of normal strength lager can put you over the legal limit. Two pints of strong lager can make you double the legal drink drive limit. Find out how many ‘units’ of alcohol there are in various alcoholic drinks on the Problem drinking page.

It takes many hours for alcohol to leave the blood. After drinking the night before many people will still be over the limit in the morning, and can get prosecuted for driving then.

Coffee doesn't sober you up. Only alcohol leaving your system over time can do this.