Friday 30 January 2009

I Only Wish It Was A Fairy Tale…

Magistrates have given a banned driver a night off from his curfew - so he could take his girlfriend on a romantic Valentine's night date.

Officials amazingly agreed to Liam Cook's request on the condition that he returned home before midnight.

They even joked that the Prince Charming could turn into 'a pumpkin' if he didn't get back from his date on time.
The joke’s on us, I fear.
But road safety campaigners today attacked the move, claiming it sends out the wrong message to offenders.

Cook, 22, was originally brought before Peterlee Magistrates' Court for driving while disqualified, driving with no insurance and failing to surrender to bail after being stopped by police on December 10.

He was given a three-month community order, part of which was a 7pm to 6am curfew and had eight points put on his licence.
Hmm, I wonder what gave him the impression that the justice system was a soft touch full of wet do-gooders in the first place, and prompted this request?

It’s a real mystery…
He told the bench at Peterlee Magistrates' Court: 'I'm asking for it so I can take my lass out for a meal. It's just for the night.'
Astonishingly, his request went down well with magistrates.
Who’s astonished…? Not me, anymore. I’m afraid.

I wouldn’t have been astonished if they’d also awarded him a few pounds out of the poor box to buy her a drink…
Chairman of the bench Mervyn Hardy said: : 'Obviously it's a very serious matter, driving whilst disqualified, and wouldn't normally vary it in any circumstances, but we are mindful that it was during the day and the curfew is for three months.

'We are going to vary it until midnight, but you must be back at your nan's at midnight.

'That should give you a nice evening with your partner and to get home.

'But make sure you don't change into a pumpkin because I am sure it will be very serious.'
Eh…? He varied his curfew because his original offence was during daylight…? Even though he was also uninsured, and I’m pretty damn sure that was a 24/7 offence!

These magistrates are taking us all for mugs!
The magistrates' decision was attacked by road safety campaigners.

Amy Aeron-Thomas, executive director of charity RoadPeace said: 'As a repeat offender, Cook should have known very well that he was risking a curfew if he continued to break the law by driving whilst uninsured and disqualified.

'The magistrates' decision to lift this ban is very regrettable as it reduces the deterrence effect and sends the wrong message to drivers.

'We can only assume that the magistrates were unaware of the link between disqualified driving and increased collision risk.

'These are the drivers that we need off the road both day and night.'
They weren’t unaware of it – they simply don’t care. They probably reckon (no doubt quite rightly) that they won’t be driving in or around any of the areas that Cook and his fellow underclass frequent, so don’t run much of a risk by letting him out.

The rest of us…? Well, we’ll just have to lump it, won’t we?

8 comments:

Letters From A Tory said...

Why bother punishing him in the first place? Why not just wag your finger at him and tell him he's a very naughty boy? It will have the same effect as letting him take time off from this sentence.

JuliaM said...

"Why bother punishing him in the first place?"

'Punishment'..? Harsh, man...

Anonymous said...

curfews are illiberal totalitarian bullshit. telling people where they can co IN CASE they re-offend? confining people to a set location because of a motoring offence? was anyone hurt, or property damaged? pah! no, the fundamental problem is that the performance of "mobile carriages" is unncessarily high. think Top Gear, Clarkson et al had most fun in the Peel microcar and in vietnam on scooters. we are used to high speed, but a 40mph max speed is plenty. if we had small bikes and cheap cars of modest performance we wouldn't need insurance! to use a high speed vehicle on public roads is inviting the State to tax and harass.
GB

Anonymous said...

"the fundamental problem is that the performance of "mobile carriages" is unncessarily high"
by which i meant that the performance of cars is so high that insurance is needed in the first place, along with speed cameras, numberplate recognition devices, and so on. the performanc of modern "commuter" bikes eg 650 bandit is so far outside a commuter's requirements that it's the same as a top-flight performance bike of the 80s
GB

AntiCitizenOne said...

Great Place

JuliaM said...

"Great Place"

Hmm, odd case: "Det Ch Insp Cliff Lyons...The investigation is at a very early stage and I'm keeping an open mind about the circumstances of the attack at this point."

Croydon again...

JuliaM said...

"...curfews are illiberal totalitarian bullshit. telling people where they can co IN CASE they re-offend?"

Well, no - in this case, it was part of his (hollow laugh) 'punishment'. Though that fact was seemingly lost on the magistrates...

"the fundamental problem is that the performance of "mobile carriages" is unncessarily high."

Errr, not sure what that has to do with his offences. Which weren't speeding...

JuliaM said...

"by which i meant that the performance of cars is so high that insurance is needed in the first place"

No, I think we'd still need that (and licensing) even if they never went above 10mph. Just ask Mary Ward...