Were you in the papers?

Convicted Driver Insurance
The press pick it up where you appear in court. Then they often share this with the local paper where you live, especially if there is some 'human interest.' involved, which is why it pays to say as little as you can about your personal circumstances in open court.
 
The press pick it up where you appear in court. Then they often share this with the local paper where you live, especially if there is some 'human interest.' involved, which is why it pays to say as little as you can about your personal circumstances in open court.
Price is of course correct . On occasions however the personal circumstances may form part of the mitigation and warrant mention etc . Be guided by your solicitor. Without presenting myself as interesting ( I’m not) , there was a potential additional gossip value in my case . Indeed , it had to he moved out of local area. I was obsessed / terrified re being in the paper. I wasn’t .
 
Price is of course correct . On occasions however the personal circumstances may form part of the mitigation and warrant mention etc . Be guided by your solicitor. Without presenting myself as interesting ( I’m not) , there was a potential additional gossip value in my case . Indeed , it had to he moved out of local area. I was obsessed / terrified re being in the paper. I wasn’t .
Without conferring any special / inappropriate treatment a good solicitor may be able to manoeuvre you into a quiet court. Talk to them about your concerns.
 
This terrifies me as well! Let’s say by some chance the press are not in the court that day. How much detail are they typically able to obtain from the court. I know there are lists, but do these explain your mitigation? Your job? Your history or just name age address and charge. Without being in the court would the press know that I blew 135 roadside even through the charge will be failure to provide at station? Or if not what lengths would they have to go to to get this info. I’m hoping I’m just on one of the summary lists in the paper of ‘look who’s been in court’
 
This terrifies me as well! Let’s say by some chance the press are not in the court that day. How much detail are they typically able to obtain from the court. I know there are lists, but do these explain your mitigation? Your job? Your history or just name age address and charge. Without being in the court would the press know that I blew 135 roadside even through the charge will be failure to provide at station? Or if not what lengths would they have to go to to get this info. I’m hoping I’m just on one of the summary lists in the paper of ‘look who’s been in court’
Please consult a solicitor. You will be able to discuss everything with them . You are understandably worrying about every aspect of the matter and this will overwhelm you. It will be a matter of the Magistrates being presented with sufficient info by way of context / mitigation to help your case, without it becoming too newsworthy. I wasn’t in the paper. My solicitor was great at reminding me that I wasn’t as interesting as I seemed to think I might be 😂😂
 
My solicitor did not even try to get me a private room, and in court I was at last week the hearing was done on zoom

I asked my local news paper
They said they would run the story if road traffic was caused, if someone was hurt
so I managed to stay out of the papers
 
I doubt if I was, but it was way before the internet existed anyway, so no chance of it coming up now.
 
Afternoon

Just a bit of info about the good old press.

Most drink driving cases do not make the national papers unless there is some sort of scandal. Celebrities or those in the media spot light (like sports people) who are potted for drink driving tend to get a mention because its a nice slice of showbiz publicity. Most of us on this forum will not get near the nationals unless it's a 'high end' case where an innocent person has lost their life.

The local papers are the ones to be mindful of. When I was convicted, I expected some sort of specific article to make the weekly rag - but no, nothing! Those with high readings are more at risk of a news article than those who have just blown over the 35. I blew 113 & 115 but they didn't do a column feature. Sadly, one lady was stopped a few months back in my home town and blew 110 - her story did get subject to a short news article, where they gave the circumstances and her name, age and the road she lived on (no house number was given). Sometimes, it might just come down to other news elsewhere at the time.

The biggest obstacle of the lot for me, is that a lot of local papers run a weekly court feature. They publish the 'runners & riders' who have graced the dock in the Magistrates Court, with a brief over view of their respective crimes and the punishment they have received. Many local papers, will have a court reporter who will pick up on court listings/events - they sometimes sit in the gallery (as it is open to the public) on some occasions, while other times they will just contact the court administration team.

I have always been someone who likes to keep my personal details private. I don't use sites like Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin for that very reason. However, my name can still be found on a google search from the court listings article published in March 2019, just a couple of weeks after my court appearance. Back in April this year, I contacted the local news editor who has advised me that once the article is on the internet it cannot be removed by her newspaper - they have no control over it!!!!

There is a way of removing 'negative' news articles from the internet if it discloses your address (part of the Human Rights Act is a right to privacy) but I wouldn't know where to start in getting an article removed from Google, unless someone on here can shed any light?

CJ
 
There is a section on this website which compiles drink driving news stories - https://www.forum.drinkdriving.org/forums/drink-driving-latest-news.172/

There are 2 posts in the last 12 hours alone of drivers with nothing more interesting than being caught over the limit. They have access to everything discussed in court if they were present in the docks taking notes, this includes mitigation. If they are not present then only the facts of the case presented in the court records. As CJ has stated you have pretty much 0 risk of ending up in a national paper but it's anyone's guess if you will end up in the local press. It's somewhat of a lottery depending on how slow the local courts have been that week.

CJ to answer your question, your local newspaper has fobbed you off. Google only catalogues content available elsewhere, you would need to put a request to unpublish into the local newspaper with a cover letter perhaps explaining where your life was then, where you are now, how long you've been sober for and ask for personal reasons if they would help you close that chapter. Once they delete the article, it will dissapear off Google. Now, they will likely say no and cite freedom of the press. But you never know the sympathies of the person who your letter may land Infront of.
 
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CJ to answer your question, your local newspaper has fobbed you off. Google only catalogues content available elsewhere, you would need to put a request to unpublish into the local newspaper with a cover letter perhaps explaining where your life was then, where you are now, how long you've been sober for and ask for personal reasons if they would help you close that chapter. Once they delete the article, it will dissapear off Google. Now, they will likely say no and cite freedom of the press. But you never know the symaties of the person who your letter may land Infront of.

Grice

Thanks for the reply. It was the lady editor I contacted via e-mail back in April - I did highlight a couple of your own points, but she told me as it was on Google, her paper has no control over it!!!! The paper in question is owned by Johnson Press, who are based in Falkirk, Scotland. I believe they own several local/regional newspapers, I am just wondering whether it would be worth contacting them as I have had no joy with the local Editor?

CJ
 
Grice

Thanks for the reply. It was the lady editor I contacted via e-mail back in April - I did highlight a couple of your own points, but she told me as it was on Google, her paper has no control over it!!!! The paper in question is owned by Johnson Press, who are based in Falkirk, Scotland. I believe they own several local/regional newspapers, I am just wondering whether it would be worth contacting them as I have had no joy with the local Editor?

CJ

The story is being hosted on the local newspaper's website, google search does not host any content. Google searches the internet using a crawler programme and catalogues what it finds. Once the host page is gone, google has nothing to link to and it simply dissapears from the search as the only hit for your name effectively dissapears. It could be that the editor is not tech savvy so I would first follow up with an explanation that Google is not a host and you are making a formal request to de-publish. In kind works suggest that they enquire with the newspapers IT team who will be able to explain hosting and search engine linking to them.

Failing that I would go down the route of contacting Johnson Press who will definitely know what you're talking about.
 
Grice

Thanks for the reply. It was the lady editor I contacted via e-mail back in April - I did highlight a couple of your own points, but she told me as it was on Google, her paper has no control over it!!!! The paper in question is owned by Johnson Press, who are based in Falkirk, Scotland. I believe they own several local/regional newspapers, I am just wondering whether it would be worth contacting them as I have had no joy with the local Editor?

CJ
Take it your talking about the FH which has unfortunately become no more than the local mans Daily Mail...
 
Take it your talking about the FH which has unfortunately become no more than the local mans Daily Mail...

Jimbo

No - its a Lancashire based newspaper mate. I do not know how they have come to be owned by the Scottish company, but I suspect Johnson Press may own several English papers.


The story is being hosted on the local newspaper's website, google search does not host any content. Google searches the internet using a crawler programme and catalogues what it finds. Once the host page is gone, google has nothing to link to and it simply dissapears from the search as the only hit for your name effectively dissapears. It could be that the editor is not tech savvy so I would first follow up with an explanation that Google is not a host and you are making a formal request to de-publish. In kind works suggest that they enquire with the newspapers IT team who will be able to explain hosting and search engine linking to them.

Failing that I would go down the route of contacting Johnson Press who will definitely know what you're talking about.

Grice

Thanks for the advice.

CJ
 
Johnstone Press (as was) went bust and the assets were transferred to JPIMedia a few years ago. They own around 170 different titles across the country and are the largest 'local' newspaper group.

As Grice mentions, Google do not have any content of their own, they just index sites that are controlled by others. Any content that is incorrect would have to be removed or amended from the site owner, it is nothing to do with Google. However, websites have the authority to list anything that is in the public domain, that includes court lists and conviction details.

With drink drive cases, unless it is a high profile story (someone famous, or something potentially of interest to the public) then it is unlikely that the national press will take up the story. Local rags may put a column in if it is a slow news week, however generally if they do list anything it will say something like "Jane Doe, 44, of Acacia Avenue, Sometown was convicted of drink driving and had a level of 100 when the legal limit is 35. She was banned for 24 months and fined £150 + £140 court costs and a £15 victim surcharge"

Having your street address isn't a reason to be removed, newspapers are not going to remove an article unless it is a) wrong, or b)a court compels them to. Generally just because you feel it impacts you is of no concern, it is in the public domain and anybody with the resources could find the information out.

Google DO have a way of blocking content, as part of the European 'Right to be forgotten' legislation. This is where you could contact Google and show that the details are now outdated and you are a different person and this impacts your/your family currently. This is generally only after many years, so by this time it is unlikely that it will be of any interest to anybody anyway... Google do not make this easy and would take a lot of legal representation and cost to get them to block. It would then only be blocked in the European area, outside this the article would still exist. Also, the article would still exist on the site owners website directly...

Something to point out, as convicted drink drivers, we presume everybody knows about it and is talking behind our backs. The truth generally is that the majority of people couldn't care less and nobody is talking about it. Gone are the days of today's news being tomorrows chip paper with the internet, but really the only people likely to come across anything in the archives about us are those who are actively looking for it......
 
I was incredibly lucky - twice. First time I blew 124 driving on a Friday afternoon. The arrest next weeks local newspaper, but there was no name, merely that a 60 year old man had been caught drink driving. Stupidly what annoyed me was that I wasn't 60, only 59. Go figure. I was kept in custody over the weekend and went to court on Monday morning. With a reading this high, even though no one had been injured and I hadn't crashed, I fully expected it to make the local newspaper, but thankfully it didn't.

The second time just over 2 years later, I was reported by a member of the public. I had driven home, but the police came to my house, arrested me and took me away in the back of their van. This time I blew 96, but again I didn't make the papers after court.

Very lucky escape, and none of the neighbours have ever mentioned seeing me being huckled away in the back of a police van, so I also got off lightly there.

I have however learned my lesson well and have been sober for over 2 years.
 
the community I live in all know and have been gossiping since it happened. I just can’t face any more if I’m honest. X
Yes, and I'll bet that everyone of that community who drinks has driven while over the drink driving limit. They just haven't been aware of it as they have never been caught. Don't beat yourself up.
 
Yes, and I'll bet that everyone of that community who drinks has driven while over the drink driving limit. They just haven't been aware of it as they have never been caught. Don't beat yourself up.
Thank you Luna. I’m still gutted but learning to be kinder to myself x
 
Yes, and I'll bet that everyone of that community who drinks has driven while over the drink driving limit. They just haven't been aware of it as they have never been caught. Don't beat yourself up.
I found that I was judged the hardest by those who have since also shown to have a drink issue.
 
I found that I was judged the hardest by those who have since also shown to have a drink issue.
That is usually the case. The people that were most understanding were those who had known me for decades and realised that for about 7 years I had been going through a hard time and started drinking far in excess of what I normally did.
 
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