Support and help required, please

Convicted Driver Insurance
price1367 said:
The charity shops quite like Community Service placements because the clients sometimes stay on afterwards as volunteers anyway because they can see the worth in what they have been doing and the other staff are usually pretty nice.
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Thankyou very much.
 
A bit more for anyone who is interested. You might be be a middle-class fool (like me) who has never done anything wrong in decades... before now. You are now going to be dropped into a world of people so violent, so aggressive, so stupid, whose limited brain-power is 100% used up just keeping themselves standing up. The bottom end of Probation is the Chain-Gang bus. You show up on a morning, and the first 12 people who arrive get on it, and the rest get sent home with 1 hour credit. The bus takes the first arrivals away to a church, or a school, or a community project, where you paint walls, cut grass, or dig holes. Half the people on it have their “water” bottles full of Vodka. They will talk, openly, and stupidly on CCTV in reception about their latest drug deals. Don’t let yourself be put on the Chain-Gang bus. The Charity Shop deals are for people like us. Non-violent, compliant, remorseful people who just want to do your time. The Charity Shops won’t even take the nutters. My first 2 minutes of Probation saw a bunch of guys attack another one. Half-way through my DID, a woman was so pissed on the course, she was ejected. You are going to meet some foolish people. And, for the comments about how you might decide to continue to volunteer... absolutely nobody, from the Manager to the Drivers wanted to be there. The Charity could not exist without the high-street tax/rent rebates. They could not exist without the free labour (you/me). It is a terrible fact, and something you may never have considered... but people put clothes into charity bags that are *covered in shit*... and the charity volunteers are the people who have to sort it.
 
DonkeyKong said:
A bit more for anyone who is interested. You might be be a middle-class fool (like me) who has never done anything wrong in decades... before now. You are now going to be dropped into a world of people so violent, so aggressive, so stupid, whose limited brain-power is 100% used up just keeping themselves standing up. The bottom end of Probation is the Chain-Gang bus. You show up on a morning, and the first 12 people who arrive get on it, and the rest get sent home with 1 hour credit. The bus takes the first arrivals away to a church, or a school, or a community project, where you paint walls, cut grass, or dig holes. Half the people on it have their “water” bottles full of Vodka. They will talk, openly, and stupidly on CCTV in reception about their latest drug deals. Don’t let yourself be put on the Chain-Gang bus. The Charity Shop deals are for people like us. Non-violent, compliant, remorseful people who just want to do your time. The Charity Shops won’t even take the nutters. My first 2 minutes of Probation saw a bunch of guys attack another one. Half-way through my DID, a woman was so pissed on the course, she was ejected. You are going to meet some foolish people. And, for the comments about how you might decide to continue to volunteer... absolutely nobody, from the Manager to the Drivers wanted to be there. The Charity could not exist without the high-street tax/rent rebates. They could not exist without the free labour (you/me). It is a terrible fact, and something you may never have considered... but people put clothes into charity bags that are *covered in shit*... and the charity volunteers are the people who have to sort it.
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Well again, Thankyou..whilst what you have said sounds hideous and I, like you, can't comprehend a world such as you describe, I am quietly prepared for it! I'm actually proving to be stronger dealing with issues as they arise than I first thought. If only I had had the same attitude towards my stresses and got help in the first place, I wouldn't be here now but things happen for a reason. Can I have a choice to go to a charity shop or the like and just make my own way there so as to avoid this "probation" bus you mention..I'm not really understanding what it means??
 
they are probably not going to send a middle-aged woman to dig holes somewhere. So you probably won’t be on the Bus. But just ASK. My probation people are really lovely. In the end, they can only give you an assignment that is actually available. There might be charity shop placements either in your town, or a town near by. Ask for one of them, In the Charity Shop, you are out the back sorting clothes. On the Bus, you are out in public with a hi-viz jacket with “community payback” written on it. You don’t want the latter.
 
DonkeyKong said:
they are probably not going to send a middle-aged woman to dig holes somewhere. So you probably won’t be on the Bus. But just ASK. My probation people are really lovely. In the end, they can only give you an assignment that is actually available. There might be charity shop placements either in your town, or a town near by. Ask for one of them, In the Charity Shop, you are out the back sorting clothes. On the Bus, you are out in public with a hi-viz jacket with “community payback” written on it. You don’t want the latter.
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Well I normally hate to be referred to as middle aged but in this instance I'll take it plus a bit. !!! I'm assuming they agree timings, dates etc for the service and not just expect you to turn up without planning around work etc. I'm sorry for all the questions but whilst I'm quietly getting through this, I'm mentally planning ahead if that makes sense! How long have you got to go now until end of ban. I'm assuming you community bit us done?
 
Your assumption is wrong. They absolutely don’t care about how how it might or might not fit into your life. If you miss the voluntary TTC course, then it won’t get you the 25% off. And you might not even get the chance to do it again, and if you do, it will cost you more money. The DID course is worse. DID is 15 weeks. You can miss 2, as long as you go to the catchup course the next week with a valid reason of why you didn’t go last time. If you fail to do the 15 weeks in a row, you will go back to court and get the next up sentence. For me, this would be prison. DONT Start it then miss it. I’ve done everything now apart from another 9 x DID.
 
DonkeyKong said:
Your assumption is wrong. They absolutely don’t care about how how it might or might not fit into your life. If you miss the voluntary TTC course, then it won’t get you the 25% off. And you might not even get the chance to do it again, and if you do, it will cost you more money. The DID course is worse. DID is 15 weeks. You can miss 2, as long as you go to the catchup course the next week with a valid reason of why you didn’t go last time. If you fail to do the 15 weeks in a row, you will go back to court and get the next up sentence. For me, this would be prison. DONT Start it then miss it. I’ve done everything now apart from another 9 x DID.
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Right I think I get the TTC COURSE- to get a reduction of 25%. How long? But what us DID AND IS IT 15 weeks all week for 15 weeks, i.e. 40 hours a week x 15? If that's the case it's 15 weeks off work, how do people tell their Employers that?
 
Stupid girl said:
Right I think I get the TTC COURSE- to get a reduction of 25%. How long? But what us DID AND IS IT 15 weeks all week for 15 weeks, i.e. 40 hours a week x 15? If that's the case it's 15 weeks off work, how do people tell their Employers that?
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I'm sorry if I'm coming across as stupid here!!
 
The DID course means Drink REhabilitation Course. It seems to be entitirly random whether you get it or not. A guy who I met, with greater blow, and more aggravated circumstances didn’t get it. For me, it is every Thursday night for 15 weeks. 2.5 hours of incredibly boring cack. It is nothing to do with drink-driving, and all about beginners driving ... what signs mean, etc. It is an utter 100% waste of time., which I think is what they are trying to do.
 
DonkeyKong said:
The DID course means Drink REhabilitation Course. It seems to be entitirly random whether you get it or not. A guy who I met, with greater blow, and more aggravated circumstances didn’t get it. For me, it is every Thursday night for 15 weeks. 2.5 hours of incredibly boring cack. It is nothing to do with drink-driving, and all about beginners driving ... what signs mean, etc. It is an utter 100% waste of time., which I think is what they are trying to do.
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Thanks once again.
 
DID is just about driving basics. On The day you did your crime, you suddenly became incapable of driving at all. Your decades of clean driving licences suddenly became irrelenent. Now, teenagers with no experience are suddenly a better Insurance risk than you. It’s complete dogshit.
 
Here’s my guess for you Stupid Girl. And it’s just a guess.

100 hours community service.
24 months ban reducible to 18.
Court and victim costs to £180
 
Stupid Girl/Donkey Kong

Just so you can compare, I blew 135, I wasn't driving and didn't hit/hurt anyone. But I was never offered community sentence wish I had been. My sentence was.

12 week suspended sentence for 2 years
£200.00 fine
30 months ban reduced if agreed to do a course.

So I figured there was nothing else that they could penalise me with but they had me pack my bag for prison. Still working out how I can work through the next 22 months - people say it will fly by !

As I had no intention of driving the only advice I have been given is I should have sat in the back!

Hope yours goes better than mine but I must say I am getting used to it slowly.
 
techra said:
Stupid Girl/Donkey Kong

Just so you can compare, I blew 135, I wasn't driving and didn't hit/hurt anyone. But I was never offered community sentence wish I had been. My sentence was.

12 week suspended sentence for 2 years
£200.00 fine
30 months ban reduced if agreed to do a course.

So I figured there was nothing else that they could penalise me with but they had me pack my bag for prison. Still working out how I can work through the next 22 months - people say it will fly by !

As I had no intention of driving the only advice I have been given is I should have sat in the back!

Hope yours goes better than mine but I must say I am getting used to it slowly.
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I’d be interested to know from someone who knows in what way, if any a suspended sentence affects your life after the ban. I mean, you and I got more or less the same fine, the same ban, the same rehab course, but you have to be a good person for 2 years, whereas I lost months of weekends working. Is having a suspended sentence on your record any worse than 200 hours of community service?

I won’t say it flies by mate, but I’m over half a year in so far... and it doesn’t seem like 2 seconds since I first posted in here.
 
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Donkey Kong,

I forgot to mention the 15 RAH days and the 6 month alcohol treatment order. I obviously had a real issue that instance, but I don't believe I have major alcohol problem. I feel like I have had every blood test known and they can't find any raised levels or whatever it is they were looking for, sometimes I feel it so they can tick the box.. That said I do find some of the group sessions informative and helpful.

Techra
 
Techra - oh, yeah. 10 RAR days too.
And I was "taken from this place to a place of execution, and hanged..." .. oh, no, sorry - that didn't happen :)

I guess being told to pack a bag for prison was terrifying. I was told by everyone (police, solicitors, probation, and guys on here) that I wouldn't go to prison, and indeed didn't. The pre-court days would have been terrifying if I'd been told to pack a bag.

Don't know your current situation, but if you still have a job, and everyone who needs to know already knows... then it's just a waiting game now.
 
Getting a whisker away from being sent to prison sounds a harsh punishment to me :oops: I have been.in prison once, with keys, for nursing. I can highly recommend not getting almost sent there!
 
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