Charged with drink driving in New Zealand. What are your rights and what happens next?

Last updated 18 May 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.

Getting charged with drink driving is one of the most disorienting experiences in adult life in New Zealand. It usually happens at night, in front of strangers, and by the time you have processed what is going on you have already made several decisions that will shape the next two years. Most of those decisions you do not need to make in the moment. Most of them are better made after you have spoken to a lawyer.

This guide explains, in plain English, what drink driving actually means in New Zealand law in 2026, what the testing process actually involves, what your rights are at each stage, what defences genuinely work, and what to expect at court. It also covers the part most people are most desperate to know about. How do you get a limited licence so you can keep working while you are disqualified.

It is general information, not legal advice. Drink driving is one of the few areas of NZ law where the cost-benefit of getting a lawyer is almost always in your favour, because the penalties are heavy and a properly run defence can substantially reduce them. Every claim in this guide ties back to the Land Transport Act 1998 and current case law.

The basics, what the limits actually are

There are three legal alcohol limits in New Zealand depending on who is driving.

Adults aged 20 and over.

• Breath alcohol concentration above 250 micrograms per litre of breath, or blood alcohol above 50 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood, is an infringement offence. $200 fine and 50 demerit points. No criminal conviction.
• Breath alcohol above 400 micrograms per litre, or blood alcohol above 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres, is a criminal offence under sections 56 and 57 of the Land Transport Act. Maximum three months imprisonment or a $4,500 fine, and mandatory disqualification for at least six months.

Under 20. Zero alcohol limit. Any alcohol at all in your breath or blood is an offence.

• Breath alcohol up to 150 mcg or blood alcohol up to 30 mg is an infringement offence ($200 fine, 50 demerit points).
• Breath alcohol between 150 and 400 mcg, or blood between 30 and 80 mg, is a criminal offence (up to three months prison or a $2,250 fine, mandatory three months disqualification).
• Above 400 / 80, the same penalties as for adults.

Repeat offenders. A third drink driving offence within any period carries up to two years imprisonment, up to $6,000 fine, and mandatory disqualification of more than one year.

A few specific terms you will see on charging documents:

• EBA: Excess breath alcohol
• DIC: Driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs
• Refusing to accompany or refusing the test: A separate offence carrying the same penalty as the highest-level EBA charge

The fine for a first offence in the criminal range is usually proportional to the reading. The rule of thumb most New Zealand defence lawyers use is roughly $1 per microgram of breath reading. A reading of 500 mcg typically attracts a fine around $500. A reading of 750 mcg around $750. This is not a statutory formula but it is how courts generally calibrate first-offence fines in the absence of aggravating factors.

Avoiding the situation in the first place, the legal U-turn

The most reliable way to avoid being tested is not to drive after drinking. But there is one practical point worth knowing about checkpoints that is sometimes confused.

A lawful U-turn made before you have been signalled to stop is not in itself an offence. If you see a marked checkpoint up ahead and the road conditions permit a legal U-turn (you are not crossing a solid yellow line, you are not in a no U-turn area, and the turn does not require dangerous driving), turning around and taking a different route is not failing to stop. Section 114 of the Land Transport Act requires the officer to have signalled you to stop before the duty to stop arises. If you have not yet been signalled, you have not yet been required to stop.

What the law does require is straightforward.

• If a marked patrol car follows you with flashing lights or sounds a siren, you must stop. Failure to stop once signalled is a separate offence.
• You cannot lie to police about why you turned. Making a false statement to police is a separate offence under section 23 of the Summary Offences Act, and an invented cover story makes everything worse. If you are asked, your answer is either truthful or “I’d prefer not to answer that, officer.”
• The U-turn itself does not give police any extra power to search or test you, but the fact of the turn near a checkpoint will give the next patrol car reasonable suspicion to follow and stop you.

Police know this tactic well. Modern checkpoints are often configured with spotters and patrol cars positioned to intercept turn-arounds, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights. The realistic expectation if you turn within sight of a checkpoint is that you may or may not be followed. If you are followed, you must stop and submit to whatever testing the officer requires.

This is information about how the law actually works, not encouragement to drive after drinking. If you have had a drink, the genuinely safe move is not to drive in the first place. If you have driven and you are sober enough to make the decision, the safe move is to pull over somewhere lawful and stop driving until you are sober.

What happens when you are stopped, the testing process

The testing process in New Zealand is laid out in sections 68 to 73 of the Land Transport Act. Understanding what is supposed to happen is the foundation of every defence later.

Stage one. The passive breath test. The officer holds a small handheld device near your mouth and asks you to talk. The device detects whether there is alcohol on your breath. This is not yet evidence. It is a screening tool to decide whether to ask for the next stage.

Stage two. The breath screening test. If the passive test triggers, you will be asked to blow into a slightly larger handheld device. This is still a screening test, not an evidential test. The result is approximate. If it comes up positive, you will be required to either accompany the officer to a place where an evidential breath test can be conducted, or provide a blood sample.

Stage three. The evidential breath test (EBT). This is conducted on a calibrated instrument either at the roadside in a booze bus, at a police station, or in some areas on a portable evidential device. This is the test that is used in court. The result here is the basis of any charge.

Stage four. The blood test. If the breath test reading is over 400 mcg, you have the right to elect to have a blood test instead. The blood test is taken by a medical practitioner and analysed in a laboratory. The blood reading is what gets used at court if you elected blood. If you fail to elect within the time provided, the breath reading stands.

At each stage you are entitled to be told what is happening and what your rights are. This sounds bureaucratic but it is the source of most successful procedural defences. The officer must follow specific words and specific procedures. Failure to do so can render the test inadmissible.

Your real rights during testing

There are several rights you have at the testing stage. They are not advisory. They are statutory and breach of them can be fatal to a prosecution.

The right to consult a lawyer. This is the most important right at the testing stage, and the one most commonly mishandled by police. Under section 23(1)(b) of the Bill of Rights Act 1990, anyone detained has the right to consult a lawyer without delay and to be informed of that right. Drink driving testing is a detention.

In practice, this means that when you have been required to accompany the officer for an evidential test, you must be given a reasonable opportunity to consult a lawyer before the test is administered. The standard practice is that the officer will offer you a phone book or the free Police Detention Legal Assistance line on 0800 919 257, and give you about 10 to 15 minutes to make the call.

If the officer does not advise you of this right, or does not give you a reasonable opportunity to make the call, the test can be excluded from evidence. In April 2017, a Christchurch judge dismissed an EBA charge because police had made reasonable attempts to contact a lawyer at one stage of the testing process but not at another important stage. The right to consult a lawyer must be offered properly at each key stage, not just once at the beginning.

Use this right. Take the call. The lawyer on the other end of the PDLA line is a duty solicitor whose entire job is helping people in your situation. They will tell you whether to elect blood instead of breath, what to say and not say, and what the next steps look like. The call is free and confidential. It does not delay things significantly and it can make an enormous difference.

The right to silence. You do not have to answer questions about how much you have had to drink, where you have been, or what you have done. These are exactly the questions officers ask, because the answers are useful evidence. Your right to silence under section 23(4) of the Bill of Rights Act applies. Use it. The only things you must give are your basic identification details (name, date of birth, address, occupation, and driver licence). Everything else, you can decline to answer.

The right to elect blood. If your breath reading is over 400 mcg, you can elect to have a blood test instead. This is sometimes useful because the blood test is administered later (so a high breath reading might be lower in blood by the time the sample is taken), and because the chain of custody and analysis of blood samples gives rise to additional procedural defences. Your lawyer on the PDLA line will tell you whether to elect blood in your specific situation.

The right not to be required to delay the test. This is the opposite of the popular misconception. You cannot lawfully delay or refuse the evidential test in the hope that your reading will drop. Refusing to take the test or refusing to accompany the officer is itself an offence under sections 11 and 60 of the Land Transport Act, carrying the same penalty as a high-level EBA conviction (up to three months prison, up to $4,500, and six month minimum disqualification). The clock between drinking and testing is what it is. Delaying tactics typically result in additional charges, not lower readings.

The immediate 28-day suspension

If your breath alcohol reading is over 650 micrograms per litre, or your blood alcohol over 130 milligrams per 100 millilitres, the officer can suspend your licence on the spot for 28 days under section 95 of the Land Transport Act.

This is an immediate administrative suspension, not a court-imposed disqualification. You will be told at the roadside that you cannot drive for 28 days. You do not need to be convicted for this to apply. The 28-day suspension runs from the date of the offence.

You can apply to the District Court to overturn the suspension during the 28 days, but the threshold is high. The court must be satisfied that the suspension is causing you undue hardship and there are exceptional circumstances. Most applications fail.

The 28-day suspension is in addition to any disqualification the court imposes later. If you are convicted, the disqualification starts from the conviction date, not the offence date, so you serve both.

The real defences, what actually works

Most drink driving cases end in a guilty plea because the evidence is overwhelming. But a meaningful proportion of cases are won, withdrawn, or substantially reduced because of procedural problems with how the test was conducted. The defences that work in New Zealand courts include the following.

One. Police did not follow the correct testing procedure. The Act and the regulations require police to follow specific procedures and use specific words. If a step is missed, evidence can be ruled inadmissible. Common failures include not offering the right to consult a lawyer at the correct stage, not waiting the required observation period before the evidential test, not following the correct procedure for the breath device calibration, and not properly recording the testing process.

Two. The breath device was not properly calibrated or in working order. Evidential breath testing devices must be calibrated and certified. If the certification has lapsed or there is evidence the machine was not working correctly, the result is inadmissible. This is a specialist defence that requires obtaining the calibration records, but it has succeeded in several reported cases.

Three. Right to consult a lawyer not properly offered. As above. This is one of the most common successful defences. If the officer did not properly advise you of the right or did not give you a reasonable opportunity to use it, the test can be excluded.

Four. Chain of custody problems with blood samples. Blood samples are taken by a medical practitioner, sealed, transported, and analysed at a laboratory (usually ESR). If any link in that chain is missing or improperly documented, the result is vulnerable. Specialist defence lawyers routinely request the full chain of custody documentation as a standard part of preparation.

Five. Post-driving consumption (the hip flask defence). If you drank between the time you stopped driving and the time you were tested, the breath or blood reading reflects that later drinking, not your driving. The defence requires evidence that the later drinking actually happened, which usually means witnesses, receipts, or other corroboration. It is a narrow defence but has succeeded.

Six. You were not driving. You can only be convicted of drink driving if you were driving or attempting to drive. If you had stopped, parked up, and were sleeping it off, you may have a defence. The case law on attempting to drive is complex. Sitting in the driver’s seat with the keys in the ignition has sometimes been held to amount to attempting to drive, even where the engine was off. Sitting in the back seat or outside the vehicle has not. If you were not actually driving when stopped, get specialist advice.

Seven. Identity. Rare, but it does happen. If there is genuine doubt about whether it was you who was driving, the prosecution may not be able to prove their case. Usually arises where the driver and passenger swapped places before the stop, or where the wrong person was charged in a multi-occupant vehicle.

Eight. Section 106 Sentencing Act discharge without conviction. Not a defence to the charge itself but a separate path. Even if you are guilty, the court can discharge you without conviction under section 106 of the Sentencing Act 2002 if the consequences of a conviction would be out of all proportion to the gravity of the offence. The classic case is someone whose career depends on a clean criminal record (overseas work, certain regulated professions, immigration) where a conviction would cause specific identified harm beyond the ordinary consequences of disqualification. The threshold is high and these applications need careful preparation, but they succeed often enough to be worth assessing in every case.

What does not work

The popular myths that almost never succeed include:

• “I only had two drinks.” Not a defence. The reading is the reading.
• “I felt fine to drive.” Not a defence. Subjective impairment is irrelevant. The objective reading is what matters.
• “It was an emergency.” A genuine emergency defence is theoretically available but the bar is very high. Being late for work, needing the toilet, or wanting to get home are not emergencies. A genuine immediate threat to life with no reasonable alternative might be, but these cases are rare and require documentary support.
• “I was given the wrong directions to the police station.” Procedural challenges to administrative things that did not affect the test result rarely succeed.
• The sovereign citizen, contract law, or “I do not consent” arguments imported from US forums. Worthless. They will be dismissed without hesitation and will likely cost you any sentencing discount you might otherwise have got.

At court, what to expect

Drink driving charges are heard in the District Court. The first appearance is usually a few weeks after the offence. You will receive a summons by post or be told the date on the night.

The single most important advice for the first appearance. Do not plead guilty. Defence lawyers across New Zealand are emphatic on this point. Even if you are obviously going to plead guilty in the end, the first appearance is the wrong moment. You have not yet got disclosure of the police evidence, you have not yet got the calibration records, you have not yet been able to assess defences or limited licence applications, and pleading guilty too early closes off options that might have been available.

The standard practice at first appearance is to enter a not guilty plea or request more time to take advice. The matter will be adjourned. You can change your plea later once you have proper advice.

Subsequent appearances. Your lawyer will obtain the police summary, the booking sheet, the calibration records, the medical practitioner’s notes (for blood cases), and the body camera footage. They will assess defences and likely sentence. Based on that, you will decide whether to defend or plead guilty.

Sentencing. If you plead or are found guilty, sentencing usually happens at a separate appearance. The court will impose the disqualification, the fine, and any other orders (community work, supervision, alcohol interlock if applicable). You can be sentenced on the same day as your plea in straightforward cases.

The disqualification starts on the day of sentencing. Not from the date of the offence. The 28-day immediate suspension does not count towards it. You serve both.

The alcohol interlock programme

For high-reading or repeat offenders, an alcohol interlock sentence is mandatory rather than optional. You will be sentenced to an interlock if:

• You have a prior EBA conviction within the last five years, or
• Your breath alcohol reading exceeds 800 micrograms per litre, or
• Your blood alcohol reading exceeds 160 milligrams per 100 millilitres

The interlock sentence works like this.

• First, you are disqualified from driving for a minimum of three months.
• After the disqualification, you can apply for an alcohol interlock licence. This allows you to drive only a vehicle fitted with an alcohol interlock device. The device requires you to provide a breath sample before the car will start, and at random intervals while driving.
• You pay for the device. Approximately $200 to $300 for installation and around $150 per month for monitoring.
• The interlock must remain installed for a minimum of 12 months, and you must produce at least six consecutive months of clean data (no attempts to start the car with alcohol on your breath) before it can be removed.
• After the interlock is removed, you move automatically onto a three-year zero alcohol licence. Any alcohol at all in your system while driving during this three year period is a new criminal offence.

The interlock programme is expensive but it is the legal path back to driving for higher-reading offenders. The alternative (waiting out the full disqualification) is often longer in practice once the interlock and zero alcohol periods are factored in.

Indefinite disqualification

If you receive three EBA convictions within five years, or two convictions within five years where one of those involved a reading over 1,000 mcg, the court must impose an indefinite disqualification. You cannot drive at all until the disqualification is lifted, and lifting it requires a separate application to NZTA with evidence of rehabilitation.

Indefinite disqualification is the heaviest non-custodial penalty in the drink driving regime. It can effectively end careers that depend on driving. Avoiding the second or third conviction within the five year window is therefore disproportionately important.

Car confiscation

Under section 129 of the Land Transport Act, if you are convicted of a second drink driving offence within four years, the court can order the confiscation of your car. The car is sold at auction. The proceeds go to the Crown.

Importantly, confiscation can apply to a car you have transferred to someone else after the offence if the court considers the transfer was made to avoid confiscation. The case law on this is technical. If you are facing a second EBA charge within four years and own a car, get specialist advice about confiscation risk early.

The limited licence, the path back to driving

This is the bit most people most want to know about. If you are disqualified from driving and you genuinely need to drive for work or to care for dependents, you can apply to the District Court for a limited licence under section 105 of the Land Transport Act. This is sometimes called a work licence.

A limited licence is not a full driving licence. It is permission to drive in specific defined circumstances during your disqualification. The court can impose conditions on the hours, the days, the area, the route, the type of vehicle, and the purpose of driving. Typical conditions allow driving only between certain hours, on certain days, for the purpose of getting to and from work, by a defined route.

Who can apply

You can apply if you have been disqualified or suspended from driving. You cannot apply if any of the following apply:

• You have been indefinitely disqualified for repeat drink or drug driving
• You are currently disqualified because you drove while disqualified or breached the terms of a previous limited licence
• Within the last five years you committed two of the following offences in separate incidents and are now disqualified for the second: reckless or dangerous driving, careless or inconsiderate driving causing injury or death, or failing to stop after an accident
• You were disqualified for drink driving while operating a transport service vehicle (bus or taxi) and you want the limited licence to drive a transport service vehicle
• You have been sentenced to an alcohol interlock for a reading over 800 mcg breath / 160 mg blood (the interlock licence pathway applies instead)

For most first offence EBA convictions, you can apply, subject to the stand-down below.

The 28-day stand-down

For EBA offences, there is a mandatory 28-day stand-down period from the date of disqualification before the court will consider a limited licence application under section 103(2). This is a flat 28 days. You cannot apply earlier, and the court has no discretion to waive it.

The stand-down is the gap between the disqualification taking effect and the earliest moment you can apply. It is the most painful part of the process for people who depend on driving for work.

What you have to prove

You have to satisfy the court that:

• The disqualification has caused or will cause extreme hardship to you, OR undue hardship to another person (your employer, a dependent family member), AND
• A limited licence in the form you are seeking would not be inconsistent with the interests of public safety

“Extreme hardship” to yourself is a high bar. Inconvenience is not enough. Loss of your job, inability to maintain a business, severe financial consequences that go beyond the ordinary impact of disqualification, are the kinds of things that meet the test.

“Undue hardship” to another person is a lower bar. It applies where another person who is not at fault is significantly affected. Common examples are:

• Your employer cannot replace you in your role and the business will suffer significantly
• A dependent family member (a disabled parent, a young child without other caregivers) relies on you to drive them
• Your spouse or partner would be put in significant hardship by not being able to use your driving for shared family needs

The court is looking for hardship that goes beyond what would be expected from any disqualification. Most adults disqualified from driving suffer inconvenience, additional cost, and time loss. That is normal and not enough. The hardship has to be specific, identified, and significant.

The application process

There is no standard form. The application has to be in a specific format with specific information, drafted as a formal court application. The Ministry of Justice notes openly that applying to the court for a limited licence can be complex. This is one area where almost everyone uses a lawyer, because the cost of the lawyer (typically $700 to $1,200 including GST for a standard application) is small compared to the cost of doing it wrong and having to start over.

The application package usually includes:

• The formal application document
• An affidavit from you setting out your personal circumstances, your driving history, your work, your dependents, and the hardship you face
• Affidavits from your employer (confirming your role, your need to drive, and the consequences of you not being able to)
• Affidavits from any dependent family members or other people whose hardship you are relying on
• A draft order setting out the specific conditions you are seeking (the hours, days, purposes of driving)
• The District Court filing fee, currently $269

The application is filed at the District Court where you were sentenced. It is served on the police. The hearing is typically scheduled within one to two weeks of filing.

At the hearing

The hearing is in open court before a District Court judge. The application is opposed by the police if they have concerns. You can give evidence. The judge can ask questions of you, your employer (if present), and any other witnesses.

The judge then decides whether to grant the order, with what conditions, and from what date. The order does not give you the licence directly. It authorises NZTA to issue you a limited licence.

After the order

If granted, you take the court order to a driver licensing agent (AA, VTNZ, or another approved agent) with the application fee (currently around $48.70). You will be issued a temporary licence on the spot, with the photo licence to follow in the mail.

You must always carry both the limited licence card and the court order when driving. If stopped, you have to be able to show both. Driving outside the conditions of the order is a fresh offence (driving while disqualified) carrying its own mandatory disqualification of six months and potential confiscation of the vehicle.

What conditions look like in practice

A typical limited licence for a first offence EBA driver who needs to drive for work might allow:

• Driving only between 5am and 7pm
• Monday to Friday only
• For the sole purpose of travelling between home and workplace by the most direct route
• In any vehicle for which you held a full or restricted licence at the time of the offence
• Subject to a logbook recording every trip

The conditions are tailored to the hardship you have established. A delivery driver who works nights might get a different schedule. A parent who needs to drive children to school might get school run hours. A trades worker who needs to drive between sites might get a wider permitted area.

Conditions that are typically refused:

• Driving for personal or general purposes
• Open-ended hours
• Driving overnight (Saturday nights especially)
• Driving children of friends or non-dependents

After the disqualification ends

When your disqualification ends (or when the interlock and zero alcohol periods are over), you are unlicensed. The licence you held before the offence has been permanently cancelled.

You need to apply to NZTA for a new licence. If your previous disqualification was 12 months or less, you can apply to reinstate the licence and pay the application fee ($48). If it was more than 12 months, you pay a higher fee ($100.10) and may have to resit some tests. The tests themselves are free if you have to resit, but you need to allow time for booking.

Until the new licence is issued, you cannot drive. Driving in the gap between the end of disqualification and the issue of the new licence is itself an offence.

When to plead guilty, when to defend

The honest answer is that most drink driving charges do end in a guilty plea, and pleading guilty at the right time (after disclosure and proper advice, not at first appearance) attracts a sentencing discount of up to 25 per cent.

A defence is worth running where:

• A genuine procedural defect exists (rights not properly advised, calibration records missing, chain of custody broken)
• The reading is borderline (just over 400 mcg) and a successful technical challenge could move it to the infringement range
• There is a real factual issue about whether you were driving
• A section 106 discharge without conviction is realistically achievable

A defence is rarely worth running where:

• The reading is well above the limit and the procedure was properly followed
• There is body camera footage clearly showing the testing process
• The cost of the defence exceeds the difference in outcome

Your lawyer’s first task should be an honest assessment of which category your case falls into. A defence run on weak grounds against a strong prosecution case can make the eventual sentence worse rather than better, because it removes the guilty plea discount.

The alcohol and other drug assessment

For most drink driving convictions, the court will order an Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) assessment. This is a structured assessment with a counsellor that looks at whether you have an alcohol use problem and whether treatment would be appropriate.

The assessment is paid for by the court. You attend an appointment, answer questions about your alcohol use, and receive a written report that goes to the court. If the assessment recommends treatment, the court can include treatment conditions in your sentence.

An AOD assessment is not a punishment. It is genuinely useful. People who go through the process honestly often come out of it with a clearer picture of their own drinking patterns. Treating an AOD assessment as an opportunity rather than a hurdle tends to produce better outcomes both at sentencing and personally.

Free help when you need it

You do not have to navigate this alone. Free or low-cost help is available.

• The free Police Detention Legal Assistance line on 0800 919 257 connects you to a duty solicitor 24/7 from the moment you are detained
• Community Law Centres provide free initial advice
• Legal Aid may be available if you meet the income threshold
• The Citizens Advice Bureau provides general guidance
• Specialist drink driving lawyers exist in every major centre. Many offer free initial consultations and fixed-fee limited licence applications (typically $700 to $1,200 including GST)
• The New Zealand Law Society can refer you to a criminal lawyer in your area

For most drink driving matters, paying for a lawyer is worth it. The penalties are heavy, the defences are technical, and the limited licence process is genuinely difficult to do well without legal assistance. The cost is usually a small fraction of the cost of getting it wrong.

The takeaway

Drink driving in New Zealand is heavily penalised, the testing process is tightly controlled, and the long tail of consequences (disqualification, interlock, zero alcohol licence, possible job loss, possible car confiscation) is much longer than people realise in the moment.

The most useful things you can do if you are stopped:

• Take the call to the free lawyer line on 0800 919 257
• Exercise your right to silence on everything except basic identification
• Do not delay or refuse the test. The refusal carries the same penalty as a high-level EBA
• Note the time of every step, the words said by the officer, and any departure from standard procedure
• Get specialist legal advice as soon as practical

The most useful things you can do if you are charged:

• Do not plead guilty at first appearance
• Get disclosure of the police summary, the booking sheet, the calibration records, and the body camera footage
• Assess defences and limited licence prospects in parallel
• If you are going to plead guilty, time the plea to get the maximum sentencing discount
• Apply for a limited licence on day 29 of the disqualification if you genuinely need to drive

The single most important thing is not to make decisions in the moment that will close off options later. The system is built to extract guilty pleas at the first appearance from people who have not yet had advice. Slowing down at every stage, taking the calls, getting the disclosure, and using the free help available, almost always produces a better outcome than the path of least resistance.

Frequently asked questions

What is the drink driving limit in New Zealand

For drivers 20 and over, the criminal limit is 400 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath, or 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood. Between 250 and 400 mcg breath (or 50 to 80 mg blood) is an infringement offence with a $200 fine and 50 demerit points, but no criminal conviction. For drivers under 20, the limit is zero. Any alcohol at all in breath or blood is an offence.

What is the penalty for drink driving in New Zealand

For a first offence in the criminal range, the maximum is three months imprisonment or a $4,500 fine, and a mandatory minimum disqualification of six months. The fine for a first offence is typically around $1 per microgram of breath reading. Higher readings and repeat offences attract heavier penalties including mandatory alcohol interlock sentences and indefinite disqualification.

Can I refuse a breath test in New Zealand

You can physically refuse but refusing is itself an offence under sections 11 and 60 of the Land Transport Act. The penalty for refusing the evidential test or refusing to accompany the officer is the same as for a high-level EBA conviction, up to three months imprisonment, up to $4,500 fine, and mandatory six-month disqualification. Refusing rarely produces a better outcome than taking the test.

What happens if my breath reading is over 650 mcg

The officer can suspend your licence on the spot for 28 days under section 95 of the Land Transport Act. This is an immediate administrative suspension that runs from the date of the offence. It is separate from any later court disqualification, and the 28-day suspension is not credited against the court disqualification. You can apply to the District Court to overturn it during the 28 days but the threshold is high and most applications fail.

What is a limited licence and how do I get one in New Zealand

A limited licence (sometimes called a work licence) is a District Court order under section 105 of the Land Transport Act that permits you to drive during a disqualification, in specific defined circumstances (typically work-related travel during set hours). You have to wait a 28-day stand-down from the start of your disqualification, then file an application with supporting affidavits proving extreme hardship to you or undue hardship to another person. The court fee is $269 and most applicants use a lawyer.

How long is a drink driving disqualification in New Zealand

For a first criminal-level offence, the mandatory minimum is six months. The actual length depends on the reading, any aggravating factors, and any prior history. Repeat offences within four or five years attract longer minimum disqualifications, mandatory alcohol interlocks, and ultimately indefinite disqualification.

Can I get a drink driving conviction overturned

In some cases yes. The most common successful defences are procedural. Right to consult a lawyer not properly offered, evidential breath device calibration lapsed, chain of custody problems with blood samples, post-driving consumption, or where you were not actually driving. A section 106 discharge without conviction is also available where the consequences of a conviction would be out of all proportion to the offence. All of these need specialist legal advice early.

What is the alcohol interlock programme in New Zealand

An alcohol interlock is a device fitted to your car that requires you to provide a clean breath sample before the car will start, and at random intervals while driving. It is mandatory for first-offence drivers with a breath reading over 800 mcg (blood over 160 mg) and for any drink driving offence within five years of a prior conviction. You serve a minimum three-month disqualification, then an interlock licence for at least 12 months with six consecutive clean months, then automatically transition to a three-year zero alcohol licence.

Can the court take my car for drink driving in New Zealand

Yes. Under section 129 of the Land Transport Act, if you are convicted of a second drink driving offence within four years, the court can order confiscation of your car. The car is sold at auction and the proceeds go to the Crown. Confiscation can also apply to a car you transferred to someone else after the offence if the court considers the transfer was made to avoid confiscation.

What is the difference between an EBA and an infringement offence in New Zealand

EBA (excess breath alcohol) is the criminal-level drink driving offence triggered by readings over 400 mcg breath / 80 mg blood. It carries a criminal conviction and mandatory disqualification. The infringement offence applies for readings between 250 and 400 mcg breath / 50 to 80 mg blood, and is dealt with by infringement notice ($200 fine and 50 demerit points only). Same alcohol, different consequences depending on the reading.

Will a drink driving charge affect my insurance in New Zealand

A drink driving conviction can substantially affect your motor insurance. Premiums typically rise sharply, some insurers will decline cover for a period after a conviction, and a non-disclosed conviction can void a policy. Insurers ask about traffic history at renewal and an inaccurate answer is treated as a material non-disclosure.

Can I plead guilty at the first court appearance for drink driving

You can, but defence lawyers consistently advise against it. The first appearance is before disclosure of the police summary, booking sheet, calibration records and body camera footage. Pleading guilty too early closes off defences and limited licence planning, and the sentencing discount you get for a timely plea is usually available later, after the disclosure is in.

Have you successfully navigated a drink driving charge in New Zealand or got a limited licence approved when you needed it? Tell us how in the comments below.