Love Your Boss...and your fellow motorist!!!

Guest Blog By Stephen Oldham

National Hug Your Boss Day Blog

14 August 2014 is National Hug Your Boss Day. You can find out more about it at the National Hug Your Boss Day website.

Everybody needs a hug from time-to-time – wouldn’t the world be a better place if everything could be resolved with a hug?

We have to deal with some pretty difficult cases here at Geoffrey Miller Solicitors. We regularly defend cases of drink driving. Quite often our clients’ stories are quite heart breaking – they face losing their jobs and homes if they are banned from driving. We are always really pleased when justice is done and they manage to keep their licence.

How much better a good hug rather than a long court battle would be.

Russell Brand

We have been inspired by National Hug Your Boss Day and by comedian Russell Brand who intervened on Tottenham Court Road in London when he saw a driver and a cyclist get into an argument. Instead of just walking by Russell administered a big embrace to all concerned and they went happily on their way. (Picture from @Joe_Stas on Twitter.)

Maybe we should take a leaf out of Russell Brand's book and hug one another instead of getting hot under the collar when someone cuts us up!

We think that all of these common driving offences could be resolved with a big hug. We know that we would be putting ourselves out of a job but we would be more than happy to administer the scheme and set up a hug bank.

Drink Driving

Driving with excess alcohol is a pretty serious offence. It results in a minimum driving ban of 12 months and in the worst cases can mean 6 months in prison.

We suggest the following alternative penalties:

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• Drink drivers who are stopped by the police but there is no accident: A big hug to the policeman (or woman) and a small hug to anyone nearby to say sorry for putting them in danger.

• Drink drivers who have an accident: A hug to the ambulance driver if s/he attends and three hugs to the magistrates (one hug each).

•  Drink drivers who are more than 3½ times overthe drink driving limit: Normally the magistrates will think about a prison sentence for anyone who provides a reading of 120µg per 100 ml of breath. So, the only hugs available are hugs in the prison visiting room. Geoffrey Miller Solicitors have never had a client sent to prison on a charge of drink driving alone (even when the reading was over 120, and we’ve seen a few!!) Hugs all round.

Speeding

Low speeds of up to 10% plus 9 mph over the speed limit (e.g. 42 mph in a 30 zone or 86 mph in a 70 zone) usually mean that the police will offer driver education or a speed awareness course. We think that trip out to the speeding site and a big hug of the speed camera would fit the bill just fine. The speed camera could even capture the moment to prove that the driver has done your duty.

We understand that drivers who go at much higher speeds will have to receive a tougher penalty but we really don’t think that public humiliation is the right thing. Rather than a driving ban how about a hug for your car to show it how much you care and how you don’t want to put it in danger by driving it too fast.

12 Penalty Points or More

The law says that a driver who gets 12 penalty points or more should be disqualified from driving for a minimum of 6 months. We think that drivers should be able to cancel some of their points by offering a big hug to anyone who wants one. If the hugees (this is a legal term for the recipient of a hug) are satisfied then they could write to DVLA and one penalty point could be removed from their licence per hug. How about a massive hugging park with a big screen outside the DVLA office in Swansea?

It’s pretty unlikely that our plans will be put in place but do not despair. If you get 12 points then the magistrates have a discretion to allow you to keep your licence if you (or someone else) will suffer exceptional hardship. If this happens to you then call Jeanette Miller at Geoffrey Miller Solicitors where a team of specialist solicitors can advise you about your case. We have a great record for helping drivers to keep their licence.

Our boss might even throw in a big hug too!!!

REHABILITATE, PUNISH, OR SIMPLY DETER?

Guest post by Paul Loughlin

There are two clear and basic ingredients to an offence of ‘Drink Driving’. I suppose that’s obvious really. The first being that a car has to be driven on a road or other public place. The second being that alcohol has to have been consumed to show either that the driver is over the prescribed limit or that he or she is impaired to such an extent that they are unfit to drive.

Well known Penalties

The television infomercials are to the point in explaining that there is a minimum 12 month ban from driving and a criminal record. The warnings don’t go as far as to explain that in serious cases a Community Order can be imposed and in very serious cases the Courts can even hand down a prison sentence. 

Long has the question been asked: ‘What is the main purpose of the Criminal Justice System? To punish those who offend or to rehabilitate those who offend? Most people would say there has to be an element of both for justice to be done.

Now the government are having to look at ways to simply deter repeat offenders who seem immune to any attempt to rehabilitate and immune to the consequences of any punishment! Electronic tags are not a new thing. They have been used for some time now to restrict offender’s movements in certain areas and at certain time. A deterrent from repeat offending above all else perhaps?

image from Google Images

Drastic measures?

Never before though has an electronic tag been used to directly deter an offender from consuming alcohol by measuring the alcohol consumed!

A new 12 month trial is set to begin for drink driving cases in London Boroughs using electronic tags to record the level of alcohol in the offender’s sweat. The ‘transdermal tags’ will monitor if the offender has consumed alcohol. If they have, then the Court will have power to impose further penalties.

‘Scourge on our High Streets’

With Alcohol related offences reported in a more negative light than ever before it is perhaps unsurprising that this scheme is being piloted in an effort to simply deter repeat offenders who seem immune to punishment or rehabilitation programmes. Boris Johnson has made his feelings known about the topic and it is hoped that the scheme will help to drop drink driving repeat offences by the 12% that it has done during trials in South Dakota, US.

Perhaps the above viewpoint answers the question posed. Or certainly how the Courts are looking to deal with the problem. The tendency here is to punish rather than rehabilitate. The deterrent here is the additional punishment and the additional imposition.

In the circumstances it is more important than ever to ensure that the negative stigma of drink related offences, drink driving in particular, is not the overriding thought in the mind of the Court when considering a case and ultimately any sentence on a finding of guilt. 

We firmly believe that each case has to be taken on its own merits and that the penalty imposed has to be in keeping with the circumstances and the offender's mitigation. A blanket policy is dangerous and unjust. 

If you are in the unenviable position of having to go to court for a drink driving offence, make sure you check your options with our expert Motoring Team at Geoffrey Miller Solicitors before going to Court and blindly leaving your ankles to their mercy!

Is A Drink Driving Conviction For Life, Not Just for Christmas?

Guest Blog By Stephen Oldham, Solicitor Advocate at Geoffrey Miller Solicitors

As a specialist motoring solicitor I often find myself involved in court cases against the police.

This Christmas I have been pleased to see some good advice offered by Thames Valley Police via their drink driving twitter campaign.

On Tuesday December 20th they tweeted “A criminal record is for life, not just for Christmas.” The tweet was alongside their very interesting “Badvent” Calendar which caught my attention too!

I am often asked if a court conviction for drink driving counts as a criminal conviction. The answer is yes. It is also true that the conviction stays on your police record for ever. Some job applications (e.g. solicitor, police officer, teacher, many jobs in the health service) require you to declare the conviction forever. In other cases the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 applies. A person convicted of drink driving is considered to have been rehabilitated after 5 years if they were given a fine or a community sentence and after 7 years if they were sent to prison. The conviction stays on your driving licence for 11 years and counts for 10 years. There is a minimum disqualification from driving of 3 years for a second drink-driving offence in that 10 year period. Plus a repeat offender is classed as a High Risk Offender and would have to undergo a medical before they were allowed their licence back.

So a drink driving conviction has far reaching consequences....it may not be officially with you for life but it will certainly have lasting repercussions well after the festive period is over...