Drink driving is 'criminal' and is recorded as a 'criminal offence'. Most people seem to play it down as a high end traffic offence which is true in a way but there is no getting away from the fact it creates a criminal record (if like me I never had one before my drink driving arrest - I have one now!!!).
In my view, accepting the truth of being in a criminal category is part of the heeling process and has allowed me to face up to what happened and start moving forward. Without playing down drink driving - I find more people these days have a criminal record than you think.
I worked with a University graduate who was locked up for drunk & disorderly when he was 18 and he recieved a caution. Another chap I used to work with actually got a criminal record for misusing a work's computer many years ago (a bit like a serious breach of Data Protection). Both seem trivial - no one came to any harm, nothing was stolen & I would personally claim both are minor convictions but like my drink driving they are still 'criminal' offences.
My own view is that others have made mistakes - we have made a mistake so my view is not be judgemental towards the wrongdoings of other people. Can we stereotype criminals anymore - I don't think we can!!!
A few 'saints' do get on their soap boxes and emphasise the point drink drivers kill people - Yes they do - however drivers using their mobile phones kill people, tired drivers kill people, speeding drivers kill people, inexperienced drivers kill people!!! Away from driving - drunken people in a pub fight can kill others with one punch, neglectful nursing home staff can cause the death of patients, gas engineers can kill people if they don't do their job properly. You can see a pattern here?
I think I've made my point - going back to the topic of the original thread, none of us on here should tolerate any critism or attitudes from DVLA staff because it is simply unprofessional and unreasonable.
CJ