DRINK DRIVE “GOES WEST”
Jenny Wynn
A high number of Eastern Europeans are appearing before the courts for drink drive offences, revealed a specialist Shropshire driver training organisation.
Motorists living and working in the UK from Poland, Latvia and Estonia – countries with a heavy drinking culture – are volunteering to attend drink drive rehabilitation courses after being sentenced by magistrates.
There has also been a noticeable increase in the Telford area, said TTC Group Director Jenny Wynn, whose organisation based at Hadley Park, Telford, is the UKs largest provider of drink drive education courses for offenders.
In June almost a quarter of those referred onto TTC courses in 14 counties and mid and north Wales were in the high risk offender category - more than two and a half times the drink drive limit.
A total of 120 Eastern European drivers appeared before magistrates in TTC court areas in June 2007 – more than 10 per cent of the total referrals, latest figures reveal.
“I started to notice an influx in a couple of our court areas at the beginning of the year and they have steadily increased across a large part of the country,” said Pauline Hall, manager of the TTCs Telford head office.
A Polish teaching assistant told TTC trainer Roz Burch that she had “no idea at all” about UK drink driving laws.
Group director Jenny Wynn said: “We had almost 1,100 referrals onto our courses in June and more than ten per cent were Eastern Europeans. This is a disproportionately high figure.”
A total of 28 out of the 120 Eastern European referrals were “high risk offenders” stopped by police with readings of between 87 and 100 micrograms of alcohol in their breath. The limit is 35.
Many did not speak English very well and did not understand either the court procedure or the benefits of accepting the education programme which they can volunteer for in exchange for up to a quarter off their ban.
“We are now producing our course information in their language. We need to address cultural issues so that we can successfully change their attitude to drink driving.”
Mrs Wynn urged the authorities to inform potential arrivals to the UK about our stricter drink driving laws.
