Is your job really worth that drink?

Everyone knows about the ban and the fine, but the long term employment consequences of a drink and drive conviction can be catastrophic

IT’S that time of year again when most of us forget about the true meaning of Christmas and spend a couple of weeks over-indulging in food and drink.

And some of the more thoughtless among us drink and drive too, which always seems amazing to us here at Business Vans bearing in mind both the consequences and the proliferation of taxis that are usually around to obviate the need for such daft behaviour.

And talking of consequences, the Government is focusing on them in this year’s anti drink and drive campaign.

The THINK! campaign called “Snowball Effect” reckons that over a million people work in jobs where a drink and drive conviction would result in them losing their jobs, while 27% would have to give their jobs up because they couldn’t actually get to where they work.

People who drive as part of their job are particularly vulnerable but someone with a conviction could also be denied access to millions more jobs which are eligible for criminal records checks. These jobs include professional driving jobs, teachers, care workers and jobs in banks and finance.

Any employer can ask to see unspent criminal convictions – and research shows that three-quarters of employers admit to taking a criminal conviction into account during the recruitment process.

Launching the campaign, Transport Minister Robert Goodwill said: “For many people Christmas is about spending time with friends and family and celebrating, but if drivers have a tipple they should not get behind the wheel.

“Just one drink can put you over the limit and the consequences are devastating – not only will you be cuffed and put in a cell, but if you’re convicted you will lose your licence and you could even lose your job.”

So take our advice – if you want to drink, organise a taxi to get you home. They aren’t cheap but they are a lot cheaper than getting caught!