There are various types of DUIs in BC, and each one needs to be disputed differently.
A 90-day Immediate Roadside Prohibition is the most common type of DUI in BC. The police, lawyers, and the tribunal that hears these cases refer to Immediate Roadside Prohibitions as IRPs.
To dispute an IRP, the most important thing you need to know is there is an absolute, no arguments or excuses deadline to file for review. If you don’t have all of your ducks in order, proper paperwork prepared, and the application filed within 7 days of the date of service, then you are SOL – sadly out of luck.
Even if you were innocent, you can’t do anything if you miss the deadline to beat the IRP.
Timely manner
So the clock is ticking, which is why there is no time to spare.
The document that must be filed to commence the dispute is called an “Application for Review.” By filing that document, you are literally asking, pleading with them, to allow you an opportunity to dispute your IRP.
Filing this document merely starts the process. But if you miss it, there will never be a hearing.
The actual document must be correctly completed with all of the proper information. We do this every day, so it’s not too difficult for us, but it can be a little frightening if you try to do it yourself.
Everything happens fast
When the Application for Review is filed and the fees are paid, the intake agent will book a time for the hearing. The hearings are scheduled on the hour from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and 30 minutes is set aside for the hearing itself.
One thing that comes as a big surprise, even for lawyers who are unfamiliar with IRPs, is that the hearings are scheduled less than 2 weeks from the date that the IRP was served on the driver. This means that there is not a lot of time to prepare evidence for the hearing.
ICBC Driver Services and Service BC act as the intake agents for the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles.
The Superintendent’s actual hearing registry office is in Victoria, and these days the adjudicators usually work remotely. If ICBC or Service BC do not have access to the police report (the Report to Superintendent) when the application is filed, they will normally send that evidence to your lawyer within a day of processing the application.
Still, almost always, the Report is provided when the Application for Review is filed, so you and your lawyer can get to work on the case right away.
Filing the Application for Review is the starting step for how you dispute a DUI in BC. For lawyers who defend IRPs every day, it is a simple step to get the matter rolling.
For a regular person, it’s not intuitive and somewhat threatening. The last thing you want to do is make a mistake at the outset.
If you have received a DUI, 90-day IRP or any driving charge or prohibition, give us a call. We want to get the ball rolling right away. We know how to dispute a DUI in BC, and we’d be glad to help you with your case.