Alcohol & Driving Limits in the UK: Everything You Need to Know
This article is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. If you are unsure about your legal position, please consult a solicitor or refer to official GOV.UK guidance.
Drink driving remains one of the leading causes of death and serious injury on British roads, yet many drivers are still unsure exactly where the legal line sits, how it's measured, or what happens if they're caught on the wrong side of it. To make matters more confusing, the government is currently reviewing whether to lower the limit for England and Wales.
This guide covers the current legal alcohol limits across the UK, how they're measured, the penalties for breaking them, and how a personal or workplace breathalyser can help you test with confidence before you get behind the wheel.
What is the legal drink drive limit in the UK?
Drink driving is a criminal offence under Section 5 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. It's illegal to drive, attempt to drive, or be in charge of a vehicle if the amount of alcohol in your breath, blood or urine is above the prescribed limit, or if you're unfit to drive through drink, regardless of your reading.
Crucially, the legal limit isn't the same everywhere in the UK. Scotland has operated a stricter limit since December 2014, while England, Wales and Northern Ireland currently share a higher one.
| Sample type | England, Wales & Northern Ireland | Scotland |
| Breath | 35 micrograms per 100ml | 22 micrograms per 100ml |
| Blood | 80 milligrams per 100ml | 50 milligrams per 100ml |
| Urine | 107 milligrams per 100ml | 67 milligrams per 100ml |
How many units is that, really?
There's no reliable formula for working out how many drinks will keep you under the limit. How your body processes alcohol depends on your weight, sex, metabolism, age, what you've eaten, and even your general health, so two people who've had exactly the same drinks could produce very different readings.
Some people can exceed the limit after a single pint, while others may test under the limit after two. Because of this unpredictability, the only guaranteed way to stay legal is not to drink at all if you're planning to drive.
Key takeaway: Alcohol units and body weight calculators can give you a rough idea, but they cannot tell you whether you are legally safe to drive. A breathalyser reading, taken correctly, gives you a far more reliable indication than guesswork.
The AL7000 is a great everyday option for personal use, but if you need evidential-grade accuracy, for example running a formal workplace alcohol testing programme, the Draeger Alcotest 7000 is the professional benchmark, built on the same technology used by police forces across Europe.
Is the drink drive limit about to change?
Possibly. As part of the government's Road Safety Strategy, launched in January 2026, ministers consulted on lowering the breath alcohol limit in England and Wales from 35 to 22 micrograms per 100ml, bringing it in line with Scotland. The consultation closed at the end of March 2026, and the government is still reviewing responses before deciding whether to proceed.
At the time of writing, the current, higher limit of 35 micrograms per 100ml of breath still applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and nothing has changed in law yet. Any formal change would need to go through Parliament, with commentators suggesting late 2026 or 2027 as the earliest realistic date. We'll update this article as the picture becomes clearer, but the safest approach for now, and whatever the future limit turns out to be, is simple: if you're driving, don't drink.
What happens if you're caught over the limit?
Drink driving carries some of the toughest penalties of any motoring offence in the UK. A conviction under Section 5 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 typically results in:
- A minimum 12-month driving ban (rising to a minimum of 3 years if you're convicted of a similar offence within 10 years)
- An unlimited fine, commonly reported in the region of up to £5,000 in the magistrates' court
- Up to 6 months' imprisonment
- 10 penalty points on your licence
- A criminal record
Refusing to provide a breath, blood or urine sample without a reasonable excuse is a separate criminal offence in its own right, and carries the same penalties as being convicted of drink driving itself.
Where drink driving results in someone's death, the penalties are far more severe. Causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs now carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for offences committed since 28 June 2022, along with a minimum 5-year disqualification and a compulsory extended re-test.
The "morning after" trap
One of the most common ways people end up over the limit is without realising it, the morning after a heavy night. As a rough guide, the body eliminates around one unit of alcohol per hour, but this varies significantly between individuals. A late finish after a few too many drinks can easily mean you're still over the limit well into the next morning, even if you feel perfectly fine.
This is exactly the scenario a personal digital breathalyser is designed for: a quick, private check before you turn the key, rather than relying on how sober you feel.
If you'd rather not commit to a digital device, single-use kits such as the Test and Drive breathalyser kit are designed to be thrown in a glove box or bag for the occasional one-off check.
Never run out: subscribe & save on mouthpieces and sensors
Every test on a digital breathalyser needs a fresh mouthpiece for hygiene, and the sensor itself needs replacing periodically to stay accurate, generally around every 12 months or 500 tests for models like the AL7000. Running out of either at the wrong moment rather defeats the point of owning one.
Rather than remembering to reorder, you can set up automatic deliveries of breathalyser mouthpieces and replacement breathalyser sensors through our subscribe & save service. Subscriptions start at 12% off, rising to 15% off from your fifth delivery, and you can change the frequency, skip a delivery, or cancel at any time, so you always have what you need without having to think about it.