Rage Online

&quotRadley Rambler&quot wrote:So may I broaden my question and see if anyone can tell me whether employers can legally prevent convicted criminals from entering their employ if they are the best candidate for a position (barring obvious examples such as I provide above)?

Yes, they can. Provided the convictions are not defined as &quotspent&quot under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. In McCormick's case, the length of sentence received means that his conviction would never become spent and he would always have to declare it if asked.

Thanks Myles, every day is a school day!

What an interesting thread, I still haven't read it all yet, I might have another go at it later.

What I am going to say next is going to sound completely outrageous, by saying it I have no intention of trivialising anything that has actually happened or that has been covered earlier in the thread.

I think that texting while driving can be, or even is, worse than drink driving.

I am not talking about the extremes of drink driving where your reactions are so impaired as to make driving impossible but rather your just over the limit driver who has at least half a chance of reacting to a situation while the texter's attention is completely away from what he or she is supposed to be doing i.e. concentrating on the road.

The texting problem is that it is impossible to concentrate sufficiently on both texting and driving simultaneously so if a situation arises then the texter is completely unaware of what is going on while the drink driver can wholly concentrate on their driving yet may not be able to provide the appropriate response to a situation. i.e. the drink driver is concentrating in an impaired fashion yet the texter is not only not concentrating they are not even looking.

I only mention this because I have been a passenger with both drivers that have had a couple of pints and once with a driver who was texting, I have never been more terrified than when I was sitting next to the texter to the point that i took the phone off him and told him I would do it for him.

Please don't misinterpret my comments, I am not trying to condone anything I am merely pointing out the mechanics of the situations.

I see what you say above A-Ro and would like to add a few thoughts to the mix.

Idiots who text are drive are obviously not concentrating or looking properly. A (slightly) drunk driver may not be so obviously affected at any given moment but there are many ways drink can affect a driver which may not be noticed by a passenger, particularly one who has also had a drink.

After a drink, conversation is more animated so the drink driver may spend more time looking at passengers and waving his arms around, reactions are slowed, all of the body's senses are impaired, sights and sounds are distorted, judgment is impaired, more risks are taken, confidence is falsely increased. All of these start happening after 1 drink. Think about all the silly things you've done on a night out even after only a couple of pints. Would you want to transfer yourself in that situation to behind the wheel of a car?

The other thing to consider is that a text driver is only dangerous whilst using their phone. A drink driver is dangerous for their whole journey thus making the window for potential disaster much larger.

I have found that, since the Champman incident, I won't even attempt to use my phone while driving, for anything other than a voice call on a hands-free kit or speakerphone. Is prison a Deterrent? Maybe. But the biggest deterrent is that I'm 100% not keen on killing anyone, including myself. I don't do anywhere near as much driving as I used to (I was doing 70k a miles a year at one stage) but when I do drive, I now pull over if I need to check or send a text or, more commonly, an email.

On the subject of footballers being role models... I think this true of their 'on field antics' (look at the Swansea ballboy as an example). But off the field? I don't think so. How many of us adored Joey Beauchamp as a youth? How many people had him a role model and sporting icon? And of those people, how many ended up spending their week at home, reading the Racing Post and then heading off down the dogs to lose all their money? I'd be amazed if it was even one person. Role model? In some ways, yes. In others, not at all.