Drink Driving

andys495 said:

Drink driving may be a criminal offence for the purposes of declaration on an application form but it is not a criminal offence by definition as it does not get criminal number. Once the 11 years is spent the record ceases. I think the point would be that any question asked on the application is likely to be, have you EVER been convicted. In which case the answer would have to be ‘yes’ regardless of how long ago the incident happened. At a point where thousands of applicants are applying for one post, and where even a spelling mistake on a CV could cost you a place, I think a yes to that answer would be the end of you.

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Sorry but this is not correct. Despite the myths the CRO number you are referring to has nothing to do with criminal offences and relates only to confirmation that fingerprints are held and indexed in the criminal records office!

Drink drive is a criminal offence and does not get archived. Like all criminal convictions they now stay on record for 100 years following the enquiry which followed the Ian Huntley murders.

The only relevant questions are around when they are disclosable and when they are disclosed.

Peeler said:

Drink drive is a criminal offence and does not get archived. Like all criminal convictions they now stay on record for 100 years following the enquiry which followed the Ian Huntley murders.

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Up until 5 years ago it was the case an employer who applied for an enhanced DBS would See all these convictions. I worked in recruitment in h&sc for 10 years and dealt with it daily. I think the landscape may have changed particularly with minor convictions and offences from when a child, these may stay on the PNC but I think there are limits on what is disclosed to employers even with an enhanced DBS.

kevconnor said:

Up until 5 years ago it was the case an employer who applied for an enhanced DBS would See all these convictions. I worked in recruitment in h&sc for 10 years and dealt with it daily. I think the landscape may have changed particularly with minor convictions and offences from when a child, these may stay on the PNC but I think there are limits on what is disclosed to employers even with an enhanced DBS.

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You are right Kev, as I said at the end it is a matter of what is disclosed and what is disclosable. There are different guidelines depending on the outcome (community resolutions, cautions, penalty notices & charges/ convictions).

Peeler

You are spot on about the 100 year policy although I heard the conviction was kept on file for twenty years after the offenders death. As you would appreciate there are many historic crimes like sex and violent offences which need to be kept on file for obvious reasons. The Ian Huntley case was a prime example of offences not being properly recorded and kept on file and at the time police forces didn't share information adequately. This lead to a flaw in the system that allowed Huntley to get the caretakers job and the devasting consequences that claimed two young lives and devastated two families and destroyed a community forever.

There have been major changes since then. I did a Data Protection course recently and there is now a new Act that has replaced the original Data Protection Act from 1998. A lot of the new legislation covers internet use and social media which was still in it's infancy twenty years ago. Certainly with criminal records there is a public interest angle that has changed in recent years.

I'm probably waffling on and going off the subject now so I apologise if I'm boring anyone.

Going back to drink driving - the offence stays on file for a life time, but it is spent and does not after be declared after five years of the conviction date. For sentencing guidelines - courts will keep the drink drive conviction live for more than ten years if a offender is arrested again for drink driving within a decade. I believe repeat offenders are given a minimum of three years for a second drink driving offence within this time frame and are punished more with potential community service and even prison sentences.

Going back to the original thread - drink driving on a road and train driving do not go together. Forget being a train driver if you've been banned from the road in the last five years as a TOC wouldn't touch you with a barge pole!!! A drink driver may be in with a chance after the five years has lapsed like my friend the bus driver who I referred to in a earlier thread.

C J