Banned, will my work find out?

[Medicine Man]

Although I bang on about this, I'm still baff'd about a first time offender obtaining a criminal record for life regarding DD. Here is one example where I believe an actual criminal conviction should come into play, driving whilst disqualified with complete disregard for the law despite now being well informed, this should be particularly true for re-offenders.

An A-Level A* student obtained a criminal record for simply trying to park his car somewhere else after a party despite the intention of staying at the property, to me it's very harsh. Puts his university prospects in jeopardy.

The main thing that you’ve pointed out here is in both situations, a criminal offence has been committed no matter what the circumstances and should be dealt with accordingly. Arguably, in the second situation of a model student simply moving their car to a more convenient location after a party can be mitigated to a certain extent with character references and the short distance driven (even if it was only round the corner or off the road etc.) but then why wouldn’t they have just parked up in a more convenient location in the first place?

With regards to the first scenario, there’s absolutely no defence in my eyes against driving whilst disqualified, and I completely agree with you, as then you step into the realms of driving with no insurance as you would have been aware prior to driving that you had no licence, no insurance and probably no permission to drive the vehicle either which constitutes taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent.

 

[Woozle47]

Outright DD or cases wrapped up involving alcohol and motor vehicles are a massive priority for every UK Police force. The magistrates then simply categorise each scenario with massive consequence to the offender. I've trawled through this forum and many many others looking for offenders charged and then let off - they are like rocking horse s~~t. First offenders for assault, burglary, fraud and deception often receive cautions or similar. Mine was a fist offence - as many on this forum are - but I'd like to think the majority who contribute to this forum have taken their punishment and learned.

 

[SillySausage123]

I'm not disagreeing with that it's a strict liability offence, my argument is more that, based on the level of offence should it be blanket categorised as criminal offence?! Surely someone who blew a reading of 140 whilst crashing their car into 3 cars is considered worse than someone who blew 41; of course (short term) they will face a higher consequence longer ban and HRO but when you strip all that away after a few years from an employment / life point of view, both the 140 and 41 are considered the same in terms of drink driving. No-one will know the details but due to the criminal record a preconceived idea will be developed.

In the US theft is treated differently based on the level of the crime for example:

When stolen property exceeds the amount of $500 it is a felony offense. If property is less than $500, then it is a Class A misdemeanor.

I feel really strongly about this, but the more I speak about it, I see that people just feel a criminal offence is a criminal offence regardless, but for someone who blew 41 the future consequences can be severe even 30 years down the line dependant on how your life pans out. For example If I'm that exemplar student discussed in my previous post; 30 years down the line I become a CEO of a top company, I didn't need to declare it but for some reason this has now come out in the media that I have a DD criminal record, no-one will care about the details and there's still a possibility that I could lose my job (i.e. forced to resign).

Again, I'm not condoing DD or watering down the seriousness, I'm just pointing out that it's abit unfair to tar all with the same brush; particularly given its a first time offence and their reading, but hey-ho.

I could speed 130 in a 40 zone and just get away with a ban, fine and points, it only becomes serious if I kill someone or there's an RTC.

As I'm walking more often now I regularly see people nonchalantly on their mobile phones whilst driving, even on the motorway, again if caught points, ban and fine unless it becomes serious.

I could be driving without insurance or a licence (the mere basics that you need before you even consider driving) putting people's lives at risk and I could simply expect the same fate as the previous two offences.