Another freedom of information (FOI) request – by the BBC this time - makes interesting reading. I’m not quite sure why they made the request, though they seem proud of the fact they did.
A driver on Merseyside is apparently happily driving around with 23 points on their licence. Another has 21 - and figures from the DVLA show that 322 people in that area have 12 or more points, yet aren’t banned.
The DVLA has no influence on the sentences given to offenders. The courts are entirely to blame for this ridiculous situation.
What makes this laughable is that the Magistrates’ Association sets out guidelines for imposing sentences for the courts to apply. This apparently includes taking into account the seriousness of the offense and the personal circumstances of the offender.
Manchester lawyer Nick Freeman said it was important that courts have some discretion in how they deal with points cases.
“I think if you take away that discretion then we don’t really need lawyers, we don’t need judges, we don’t need magistrates, we need robots.”
Well, maybe that’s exactly what we need. It’s hardly a good use of “discretion” when the areas most likely to have lunatics engaged in points-gathering activities are the ones most likely to have “discretion” applied like this. The “discretion” is 100% misguided.
One of my pupils’ told me her father had been arrested for being slightly above the drink-drive limit after he stopped to report an accident that he wasn’t involved in. His job depended on his driving licence, and yet he was still banned. Subsequently, the responsibility for driving him fell to my pupil – who was still learning at the time. It then became clear that she was suffering from bipolar disorder (like her mother), and the additional stress of this coupled with her exams was becoming a big problem for her.
Not a lot of discretion shown there, was there?
And yet if she’d lived on Merseyside, it could have all been different.
The problem is, these prats (I think the proper word is “scallys”) just think they can get away with it – and the courts are letting them. I mean, you have to go through four red lights or get caught speeding four times to get 12 points. Isn’t that enough for people to learn about right and wrong?
The courts are allowing twice that to these idiots.