Legal Question in DUI Law in United Kingdom

Re: Drunk Driving Warrent

The short answer is I don't know. Anything I say here is just a guess.

We have diplomatic relations with Great Britain. Therefore, I would expect that the acts of their courts are recoginzed here. I would expect that the Minnesota Department of Pulbic Safety would treat a DWI from Britain pretty much the same as it would treat one from Wisconsin.

Our Department of Public safety would have to find out about it first. So one of the most important questions is whether the court in Britain is going to report the conviction to any agency on this side of the Atlantic. You have to find a British lawyer - a Barrister or Solicitor (they have two kinds and I don't know which one would be of help to you) - to ask that question.

After you talk with the British lawyer, assumine he says it will be reported to this country, ask driver evaluation at the MN Department of Public Safety what they would do with it. You should be able to call them anonymously if you turn off your caller ID. The phone numbers you need for our Department of Public safety are at my web site at http://www.mn-dwi.com/manual.html.

Chances are you could hire a lawyer in Britain to handle this without you having to travel back there. I do that sort of thing for people from Texas and Arkansas who get DWIs here in Minnesota all the time.

Besides possible consequences here in MN, you have to worry about what might happen next time you want to leave the U.S. For example, in Canada a DWI is considered a felony, and the Canadians might not let you across the border. There are some lawyers in Winnipeg who are doing quite a business in getting Canadian pardons for Minnesotans who received DWIs in Minnesota. My understanding is that the pardon is needed before they can travel to Canada, or at least to Manitoba.

This response is for general information only and does not create an attorney-client relationship.