Fast-Track DUI Trial: How Long Does It Take? (2026)

The fast-track trial for drink-driving (the juicio rápido of Arts. 795 to 803 of the Spanish Criminal Procedure Act, LECrim) is how Spain tries the drink-driving offence in Art. 379.2 CP: the police summon the driver to the duty court (juzgado de guardia) and, if the driver accepts the plea agreement (conformidad), the case can end that same day with a final judgment and the penalty sought reduced by one third. Otherwise, the trial must be listed within the following 15 days. As criminal defence lawyers for road safety offences, we explain each step, the penalties with and without a criminal record, what to check before pleading guilty and what changes for foreign nationals and visitors.

What Is the Fast-Track Trial for Drink-Driving and When Does It Apply?

The fast-track trial (diligencias urgentes, urgent proceedings, in the statute) applies when the conditions of Art. 795 LECrim are met: the case starts with a police report (atestado); the Judicial Police have arrested the driver or summoned them to the duty court; and the offence is flagrant or on the statutory list, which expressly includes offences against road safety. That is why most criminal drink-driving cases are handled this way.

When drawing up the report, the officers must tell you that you may appear with a lawyer (if you do not appoint one, a duty lawyer is assigned) and that you can ask for a blood or urine contrast test (Art. 796.1 LECrim and Art. 23 of the General Traffic Regulations). If you have not been summoned yet, see what to do after a breathalyser stop; the procedure in general is explained on our fast-track trials page.

You Have Been Summoned for Drink-Driving: What Happens at the Duty Court, Step by Step

1. Urgent proceedings. The judge opens the case and requests your criminal record (Art. 797.1 LECrim): repeat offending and suspension depend on it.
2. Meeting your lawyer. Your lawyer receives a copy of the police report (Art. 797.3 LECrim), with both breathalyser readings and the symptoms recorded. This is the moment to review the evidence.
3. Statement. Attending is compulsory; making a statement is not: you have the right to remain silent.
4. The judge's decision. The fast-track trial continues, the case moves to preliminary proceedings (diligencias previas) if something is missing (Art. 798.2 LECrim), or it is closed.
5. Charges. The prosecutor states the penalty sought: months of fine and daily rate (or community service, or prison) and months of driving ban.
6. Plea or trial. If you accept, the judge gives judgment orally with the penalty reduced by one third (Art. 801 LECrim). If not, the trial is listed before the Criminal Section of the Court of Instance (formerly the Juzgado de lo Penal).
7. Enforcement. Once the judgment is final, the court requires you to hand in your licence and pay the fine and, if there is a prison sentence, decides on its suspension (Art. 801.2 and 801.4 LECrim).

How Long Does a Fast-Track Drink-Driving Trial Take?

With a plea agreement, everything is settled at the appearance before the duty court, on the date the police set in coordination with the court (Art. 796.2 LECrim). Without one, the law sets these time limits:

These are statutory limits; the court's workload can stretch them. If evidence is missing (the blood test, the medical report on an injured person), the case moves to preliminary proceedings (Art. 798.2 LECrim) and takes months. More on timescales in how long a criminal trial takes in Spain.

Foreign Nationals and Visitors: Interpreter, Address in Spain and Leaving the Country

• Interpreter. If you do not speak or understand Spanish, you are entitled to an interpreter in a language you understand at every step that requires your presence, including police questioning and court hearings, and in conversations with your lawyer about your statement (Art. 123.1 LECrim). Essential documents must be translated in writing, and in all cases the prosecutor's statement of charges (escrito de acusación) and the judgment (Art. 123.1.d LECrim); exceptionally, the written translation may be replaced by an oral summary of their content in a language you understand, where that still sufficiently safeguards your defence (Art. 123.3). The cost is borne by the authorities. If you are arrested, you must receive your rights in writing in a language you understand and may ask for your consulate to be informed (Art. 520.2 LECrim; see consular assistance).
• Address in Spain. At your first appearance before the court, you will be asked to designate an address in Spain, or a person to receive notifications for you, and warned that a summons served there allows the trial to go ahead in your absence in the cases set out in Art. 787.1 LECrim (Arts. 775 and 797.1 LECrim). Give one where notifications will actually reach you.
• Leaving Spain. A plea agreement at the duty court settles the case that day. If you decline it and then miss the trial without good reason after being properly summoned, it can be held without you when the prosecution asks for it and the judge, after hearing the defence, finds sufficient grounds to try the case, provided that the most serious penalty sought is a fine, up to 2 years' prison or another penalty of up to 6 years, and that the prison sentences sought do not add up to more than 5 years (Art. 787.1 LECrim, applied to fast-track trials by Art. 802.1). Decide on the evidence, not on the date of your flight. More in trial in absentia and leaving Spain while under investigation.

From What Reading Is Drink-Driving a Criminal Offence? Criminal and Administrative Limits

Art. 379.2 CP punishes, in all cases, driving with more than 0.60 mg/l in exhaled air or 1.2 g/l in blood, and also driving under the influence of alcohol with a lower reading, if the police report proves it through symptoms or the way you were driving. Below that, exceeding the limits in Art. 20 of the General Traffic Regulations is an administrative offence:

Fines and points: Arts. 77 and 80 and Annex II of the Traffic Act. The cut to 0.2 g/l debated in 2026 is not in force: the Interior Committee of the Congress of Deputies rejected it in March, and the later bill lapsed on 6 October with the dissolution of Parliament (Spain's drink-driving limits in 2026). You can place your reading with our drink-driving threshold checker.

What Is the Penalty for Drink-Driving and How Does the Plea Agreement Reduce It?

Art. 379 CP punishes the offence with prison of 3 to 6 months, or a fine of 6 to 12 months, or community service of 31 to 90 days and, in all cases, a driving ban of more than 1 year and up to 4 years. The first three are alternatives; the ban always applies. The plea agreement reduces the penalty sought by one third, even below the statutory minimum (Art. 801.2 LECrim):

The fine runs in days, at a daily rate of €2 to €400 depending on your finances (Art. 50 CP): 4 months at €6 a day is €720 (day-fine calculator). If unpaid, every two daily rates mean one day of deprivation of liberty (Art. 53 CP). Community service requires your consent (Art. 49 CP), and Art. 385 ter CP allows a prison sentence one degree lower where the risk created was minor; as that sentence falls below 3 months, it must be replaced by a fine, community service or home detention (localización permanente) (Arts. 70.1.2 and 71.2 CP).

Fast-Track Drink-Driving Trial With No Criminal Record Versus Repeat Offending

With no criminal record (or with records cancelled, or that should have been), no aggravating circumstance applies, and a prison sentence of up to 2 years can be suspended (Art. 80.1 and 80.2 CP). An earlier administrative fine for alcohol does not make you a repeat offender: that requires a criminal conviction.

• Repeat offending (an earlier final conviction for an offence of the same title and nature): the penalty is imposed in its upper half (Arts. 22.8 and 66.1.3 CP); with final convictions for at least three offences of that title and nature, the next higher degree is possible (Art. 66.1.5 CP). Whether an earlier conviction for another road offence, such as driving without a licence (Art. 384), counts depends on the court treating it as being of ‘the same nature’: the Code does not specify, and the Public Prosecutor's Office looks at the protected interest and the type of conduct (Circular FGE 10/2011).
• Suspension: a repeat offender may still obtain the exceptional suspension of Art. 80.3 CP, closed to habitual offenders, or that of Art. 80.5 CP if the offence was due to alcohol dependence and they are in treatment.
• Plea agreement: still possible; Art. 801 LECrim does not exclude repeat offenders.

More in repeat drink-driving: the aggravated penalty.

The Plea Agreement at the Duty Court: Requirements, and When to Accept or Decline It

Art. 801 LECrim requires that there is no private prosecutor (acusación particular) and that the public prosecutor files the statement of charges there and then; that the offence carries up to 3 years' prison, a fine, or another penalty of up to 10 years; and that the prison sentence sought, reduced by one third, does not exceed 2 years. A drink-driving case without injuries meets these conditions. If there is a private prosecutor, you may plead in your defence submission to the most serious of the charges “as provided in the preceding paragraphs” (Art. 801.5), and the Public Prosecutor's Office considers that the one-third reduction applies then too (Circular FGE 1/2003). The reduction requires pleading before the duty court when the charges are put to you (Art. 800.2) or, if the case has moved to preliminary proceedings, admitting the facts before the judge (Art. 779.1.5 LECrim); a plea at the start of the trial (Art. 787 ter LECrim) does not provide for it. You can estimate it with our fast-trial plea agreement calculator.

Accepting may make sense if the evidence is solid (two readings clearly above 0.60 mg/l, a verified breathalyser) and your lawyer sees no defects: it closes the matter that day with the reduced penalty.

Think twice if:

• Your reading is close to 0.60 mg/l and the breathalyser's margin of error could bring it below.
• Your reading was below 0.60 mg/l and the charge rests on generic symptoms.
• There is no record of the device's verification, 10 minutes did not pass between the two tests, or you were not told about the contrast test (Arts. 22 and 23 of the General Traffic Regulations).
• There is doubt about who was driving.

Declining means giving up the reduction in exchange for a trial with evidence, where acquittal is possible; see challenging the breathalyser.

The Driving Ban: When It Starts, Why It Is Not Suspended and Foreign Licences

• It is not suspended. Suspension under Art. 80 CP only covers custodial sentences, and needing your car for work does not prevent the ban: Art. 379 imposes it in all cases.
• It is served by handing in your licence when the court requires it once the judgment is final; the court keeps it with the case file and orders the traffic authority (Jefatura Central de Tráfico) to cancel it and not to issue a new one until the sentence has been served (Arts. 801.4 and 794.2 LECrim). In the Public Prosecutor's Office's view, the ban starts running from that handover or, if the licence cannot be collected, from notification that you may not drive; the exact dates are fixed in the calculation of the sentence (liquidación de condena) (Circular FGE 10/2011). If the judge had withdrawn it as an interim measure (Art. 764.4 LECrim), that time counts towards the sentence (Art. 58.4 CP).
• A ban of more than 2 years means the licence loses its validity (Art. 47 CP).
• Foreign licences. The ban disqualifies you, as the person convicted, from driving motor vehicles and mopeds for the period set in the judgment (Art. 47 CP); the Code makes no exception for licences issued abroad. Spanish traffic rules add that a licence issued in another EU or EEA State is not valid for driving in Spain while it is restricted, suspended or withdrawn in Spain or in any of those States (Art. 15.2 of the General Drivers Regulations, RD 818/2009), and that a licence issued outside the EU or EEA cannot be exchanged for a Spanish one while you are under a court driving ban (Art. 22.1.b of those Regulations). Any effect of the ban in the country that issued your licence depends on that country's rules: ask your lawyer. See driving offences in Spain as a foreigner.
• Driving during the ban is a separate offence (Art. 384 CP): see judicial driving disqualification.

If You Refused the Breath Test or There Was an Accident

Refusing the tests. Refusing when an officer requires you to take them is a separate offence (Art. 383 CP): prison of 6 months to 1 year and a driving ban of more than 1 year and up to 4 years. Prison has no fine alternative, although the plea agreement reduces it by one third and, with no criminal record, it can be suspended. If you are also charged with driving under the influence of alcohol (Art. 379.2), the Public Prosecutor's Office treats them as two separate offences, each with its own penalty (concurso real: Circular FGE 10/2011). See refusing a breathalyser test.

Accident with injuries. Art. 382 CP applies only the most serious offence, in its upper half, plus compensation. The case is often not closed at the duty court: the final medical report (informe de sanidad) is pending and, if the injured person joins as private prosecutor, the plea is entered in the defence submission (Art. 801.5 LECrim). If the case moves to preliminary proceedings, the reduction is still possible: if you admit the facts before the judge, assisted by your lawyer, and the penalty is within the limits of Art. 801, the prosecutor can file charges with your agreement and the case returns to the Art. 800 and 801 procedure (Art. 779.1.5 LECrim). See drink-driving with an accident and injuries.

Fast-Track Trial for Driving Without a Licence (Art. 384 CP)

Driving without a licence is tried the same way, with the same one-third reduction. Art. 384 CP punishes driving after losing all your points (if the loss of validity was formally notified), after a court withdrew your licence, on an interim or final basis, or without ever having obtained one. The penalty is prison of 3 to 6 months, or a fine of 12 to 24 months, or community service of 31 to 90 days, with no driving ban; with the plea agreement, a 12-month fine sought becomes 8. If you were driving without a licence and over the criminal limit, the Public Prosecutor's Office treats it as a single act committing both offences (concurso ideal between Arts. 384 and 379; Art. 77 CP; Circular FGE 10/2011). Specific defences: driving after losing all your points and never having held a licence.

Criminal Record and Suspension of the Sentence

A conviction creates a criminal record even after a plea agreement and without prison. Provided you do not reoffend, it is cancelled after the periods in Art. 136.1 CP, counted from the date the penalties are extinguished:

• 6 months if all the penalties imposed are minor ones, which the reduction can produce: community service of up to 30 days and a driving ban of up to one year (Arts. 33.4 and 136.1.a CP).
• 2 years with a fine, community service of more than 30 days or prison of up to 12 months (even if suspended) and a driving ban of up to one year (Art. 136.1.b CP).
• 3 years with a driving ban of more than one year and less than three, or a fine of more than 12 months, possible under Art. 384 (Art. 136.1.c CP).
• 5 years with a driving ban of three years or more (Art. 136.1.d CP).

Until then it can affect public-sector examinations, firearms licences and nationality applications (clearing a Spanish criminal record as a foreigner). If there is a prison sentence, the duty judge decides on its suspension there and then: with no record and a sentence of up to 2 years, Art. 80 CP allows it for 2 to 5 years (Art. 81 CP), and a commitment to pay the civil liability is enough (Art. 801.3 LECrim). More in how to avoid prison after a positive breath test.

What to Bring to the Fast-Track Trial and What Not to Do

Bring your passport, identity card or NIE (foreigner identity number) and the summons; the copies the officers gave you (breathalyser printouts, signed records); your driving licence; proof of income and outgoings, because the daily rate of the fine depends only on your finances (Art. 50.5 CP); and, if you are in treatment for alcohol dependence, the centre's certificate (Art. 80.5 CP).

Do not:

• Fail to attend: the judge may order your arrest (Arts. 797.1 and 487 LECrim), and the oral trial, if you were properly summoned, may be held without you, at the prosecution's request and if the judge finds sufficient grounds, because the drink-driving penalties fall within the limits of Art. 787.1 LECrim (see the section on foreign nationals).
• Accept the plea agreement without reading, or having translated, the prosecutor's charges: penalty, daily rate and months of driving ban.
• Drive with your licence withdrawn or once convicted: that is the offence in Art. 384 CP.