Drink Driving
 

Not me.


I have a drinking acquaintance who is an habitual drink driver, he is out 7 days a week and weekdays will have about 6 pints in the evening and take home a couple of bottles for when he gets in. Weekends it is probably about 10 pints. He always buys in 2 and half when last order is called for later on when the till has closed.

Trouble is at least 3 times a week he will drive the 2 mile home. The bar manager has talked to him about it, I have as well.

He knows he should not do it, having been banned twice in the past for drink driving. He freely admits to being an alcoholic as if that is an excuse.

We tell him to get a taxi booked. He lies and says he has. Next thing you think he has gone outside for a cig, and his car is disappearing.

He got a nasty scare about 6 weeks ago when the car behind him went blue and overtook him as he was pulling to the side, unfortunately it carried on at high speed. He learned his lesson for about 3 days.

It isn't anything to do with me. He has his own life. Sad personal circumstances and now on his own looking after a teenage son. Loss of a licence for 10 years would probably destroy that family.

Do I simply cringe whenever I see him heading for the carpark. He once even handed over his keys to the manager. But had a spare so he could collect the car in the morning so a useless gesture as his car was not there come locking up time. I don't want to grass him, but for the sake of everyone else on the road his time is well and truely overdue.


Dear Org. Please help me with this dilemma

Re: Drink Driving
 

Shop him...

6 days a week and twice on Sunday...

Looking at it from on outsider's POV to me either it destroys his family and gives him a wake up call, or it destroys the family of the person/people he kills when he has a smash

Re: Drink Driving
 

Do what Homer did to Barney for drink driving - slam his head repeatedly in the car door. What a tosser.

Re: Drink Driving
 

You can contact Police anonymously or use Crimestoppers. There is NO excuse for drink driving. Ever.

On my last dayshift I dealt with a boy who had drank 3 pints and then wrapped his car round a BT pole in a residential street. Could easily have been a person.

Re: Drink Driving
 

This will ruffle a few feathers but Id ask is he actually dangerous on the road,and has he got a poor accident record?I dont drink and drive ever,but I would argue that some drink drivers are safer than some sober ones whose attitude makes them lethal without chemical help.

Re: Drink Driving
 

Shop him. It may destroy his own family, but what if the worst happens he may well destroy somebody else's.

I know its hard Tim, but my friend was killed by drunk driver in 2006 and I dont have any tolerance for it. Especially after seeing the damage it did to Petes family and my circle of friends.

Re: Drink Driving
 

I would tell him. Something like 'if you get in that car ****ed ever again then I'm dialling 999. On your own head be it'

Re: Drink Driving
 

Crimestoppers 0800 555 111

Or Lancashire Constabulary contacts page

No-one need know it was you, we get loads and make lots of arrests in very similar circumstances.

Do it ASAP.

Pete

Re: Drink Driving
 

After 10 pints?!?! there is no way that he will not be impaired in his driving after 10 pints! He may not be roaring drunk but his reactions etc will be slowed. His decision making will also be impaired so that should he have to make a snap decision he won't be able to.

His accident record shows nothing. All it shows is that he has been lucky. Alcohol can affect even the most tolerant of drinkers in strange ways. One night after 10 pints he could be ok, the next night he could be steaming drunk.

Re: Drink Driving
 

when he goes in the pub let all his tyres down, then he cant drive off :D

Re: Drink Driving
 

As everyone says make that call. If somone gets hurt, even your mate you will feel awful thinking you could have helped prevent it.

Don't feel guilty or a grass, he is drinking and when he gets in that vehicle he is taking on the chances of getting caught and will have to take the consequences.

I would call Crimestoppers or even your local force and withhold your number and do it anon.

Re: Drink Driving
 

As Ed says, give him the choice.

And don't forget, it may actually be a member of your family he collides with. Could you live with that, and would your family forgive you?

Re: Drink Driving
 

I wouldnt argue with any of that,I just think we get overobsessed with this to the exclusion of all other road safety issues.If he is drunk and he knows it,and drives two miles very carefully as a result,he is probably safer than(for example)yours or my work colleague who drives home fourty miles after a twelve hour night shift.We all have our own life experiences of road fatalities of those we knew,and mine have centered around the example I gave above.

Re: Drink Driving
 

Hang on - doing a 12 hour shift makes you as dangerous a driver as someone who's had TEN pints?

Re: Drink Driving
 

loss of his life or a prison sentence will destory his sons life further :thumbdown: the number you need is 999 imho

Re: Drink Driving
 

cant believe you are even asking for advice on this. TBH you are just as bad as him as are everyone else knowingly not doing anything while this Cnut drinks and drives on a regular basis,

have some minerals about you and pick up the phone and call the police on him.

Re: Drink Driving
 

+1
If that doesn't work, then call the law.

Re: Drink Driving
 

I said I would ruffle a few feathers didnt I?
Im not saying that everyone who drives tired is dangerous any more than I am saying that someone who drives drunk is safe,just that we get so agitated(easy target?) over drunk driving that we fail to deal with other(difficult?)road safety issues.Same with speeding(easy target?)compared to tailgating(much harder to enforce)
I do know that the police on here will be very well aware of the controversy around driving home after long night shifts,as their federation is active on this issue.I also know that several of my friends have been killed or affected by fatalities from otherwise unexplained crashes driving home when tired.

Re: Drink Driving
 

Over christmas i was doing a 9 hour day shift and an 8 hour night shift, i must of been a massive risk over christmas then.
Back on topic - surely the bar manager would stop serving him if he knew the guy was driving home every night, everyone who knows hes drink drives should feel guilty if hes in an accident.

Re: Drink Driving
 

Saying that someone who has had a few beers, or has worked a 10 hour shift, or whatever may actually be a good/bad driver is too subjective to make a definitive case.

And that's why the law draws lines in the sand that err on the side of caution and commonsense.

Anecdotal evidence may suggest a number of things but eventually the proven case time and time again is why the law is set up the way it is.

But if you want anecdotal evidence one of my mates used to D&D and only lived 1/2 mile from the pub. He did it for 20+ years. One Friday night he totalled six cars on his short drive home. No one was injured, he got a ban and never D&D'd again. He could sup loads, e.g. 10 pints of the black stuff easy, and looked and sounded sober. He couldn't even remember crashing but when he walked out of the pub he looked/sounded sober.

Just because said mate sounded sober doesn't mean he is.

Re: Drink Driving
 

That's what I was thinking, what's the Landlord's responsibility knowing pretty well that the guy's going to drive.
If he stopped serving him, would he go elsewhere Tim?

is the Landlord to fond of his custom to do anything about it?

Re: Drink Driving
 

The trouble is he lies. The landlord would not serve him if he said I am going to drive home. In fact if staff are driving, they often give him a lift to make sure he doesn't drive. But he turns round and says I have a taxi or on the bus etc. Which he sometimes does. The problem is there are time when he just disappears and you look and the car has gone as well.


Well I feel like ****. I have done the dirty deed.

Re: Drink Driving
 

Tim, don't feel ****e about it. Can you imagine what he would feel like if he killed someone? His life would be destroyed. Can you imagine what you would feel like??

Re: Drink Driving
 

No reason to feel that way, unequivocally you did the right thing...

Hopefully it'll be a wake up call...

Re: Drink Driving
 

2 miles is not far, why can't he walk or cycle it.

I agree with the sentiment that you should shop him. Even if he does get done, he may well re-offend as one of my ex colleagues has done twice!

I couldn't live with my concience if somebody got killed or seriously hurt.

If you have then good for you TW, short term guilt complex for this, but better than a lifetime of thinking 'If only I had' if he'd ruined another families life

Re: Drink Driving
 

its not you who is doing a dirty deed! think how you would feel if he wiped out a family in their car?

Re: Drink Driving
 

Tim you have done the right thing. This is obviously habitual now cos he has got away with it for so long. It needs some wake up time to kick the habit. This has got to be better than the possibility of an accident happening.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me!"

Re: Drink Driving
 

+1 I wouldn't consider driving to the pub if I knew I was drinking. A 25 minute walk each way would keep him the right side of the law and maybe alleviate some of the degenerating physical effects of all that beer.

Re: Drink Driving
 

Ssounds like walking will be his only option now....

Re: Drink Driving
 

You're assuming that the police are going to respond to a call :laughat:

;)

Re: Drink Driving
 

tim mate, I know you're prolly feeling crap right now but as others have said it's a fraction of how bad you'd feel if he injured or killed someone else (never mind himself), all the while knowing full well that you could have done something to prevent it

Re: Drink Driving
 

Quote The Levellers "He's never been kept waiting, cause he pays the landlord's wage". Apparently 20% of drinkers bring in 80% of the money.

Good on you for doing the right thing. He had been warned by his friends. He knows it's wrong and 2 miles only takes 1 hour to stagger even if you're completely trolleyed. No excuse for driving.

Re: Drink Driving
 

i cant be trusted to walk to the right house after 10 pints tbh, find a pub closer to home and walk to it? here in wolverhampton theres a pub every 1/2 mile :P