How to shop a drink driver?

[wiggy001]

I'll keep this fairly brief: someone is well known in the area to be an alcoholic drink driver. He finishes work early afternoon and will spend the rest of the afternoon and evening driving from pub to pub having 2-3 pints of cider in each before moving on to the next. It's not unusual for him to have 6-9+ pints whilst driving, and often with his 2 children in the car.

He's been involved in several accidents over the past couple of years but the police have never been involved so he's got away with "knock for knock". As an alcoholic he actually carries the drink well and doesn't come across as drunk as most would.

He has nearly run several people off the roads round here (country lanes), including a close friend. And he drink drives through my village where I walk with my own children.

His car is also without an MOT because it needs a lot of work to pass and that is drinking money to him.

For these reasons I want him off the road. But here's the problem: he has been reported several times to both the police and crimestoppers and nothing has ever come of these reports. Both have been given all the details including patterns, when he will be in what pub etc but nothing.

So has anyone any advice on how to make the police take this seriously enough to do something about it?

[Greendubber]

Speak to the neighbourhood team for the area.

I tried it and it worked, one of the PCs on there made the guy his own special project and within a couple of weeks he was caught, arrested and later convicted and banned.

It's worth a try, probably more beneficial than someone calling 999 when he's doing it. Give as much info as you can about the person/locations/vehicles etc.

[Robertb]

If you witness him driving and you call 999 I understand the police are normally very responsive. Sounds like you’ve tried that though.

[Evanivitch]

Greendubber said:

Speak to the neighbourhood team for the area.

This. It does work.

[Red9zero]

Tried reporting a neighbour numerous times. We have cctv of her crawling out of her car blind drunk, she has hit other cars and road furniture. The last time she hit an island in the middle of the road holing her sump. She then drove home leaving a trail of oil behind her. She didn't even remember doing it. I have supplied times they will catch her - 10 mins before the local shop closes at 10pm, when she realises she needs more alcohol. All to no avail, as they need to have someone available to catch her in the act. She is also driving round with no tax or MoT. Some people are above the law apparently.

[LosingGrip]

wiggy001 said:

I'll keep this fairly brief: someone is well known in the area to be an alcoholic drink driver. He finishes work early afternoon and will spend the rest of the afternoon and evening driving from pub to pub having 2-3 pints of cider in each before moving on to the next. It's not unusual for him to have 6-9+ pints whilst driving, and often with his 2 children in the car.

He's been involved in several accidents over the past couple of years but the police have never been involved so he's got away with "knock for knock". As an alcoholic he actually carries the drink well and doesn't come across as drunk as most would.

He has nearly run several people off the roads round here (country lanes), including a close friend. And he drink drives through my village where I walk with my own children.

His car is also without an MOT because it needs a lot of work to pass and that is drinking money to him.

For these reasons I want him off the road. But here's the problem: he has been reported several times to both the police and crimestoppers and nothing has ever come of these reports. Both have been given all the details including patterns, when he will be in what pub etc but nothing.

So has anyone any advice on how to make the police take this seriously enough to do something about it?

999 if they are driving at the time. Make, model, VRM and direction of travel.

If not, keep reporting. Do they have children? Ever have them in the car?

My force are pretty good at targeting drink drivers. Is your profile the area right? If its not and what area are they in? I may have contacts in the force that I can email via my work account.

[TheDrownedApe]

I live in a village where the locals call carling the "driving beer". OH works on the village pub and sees 6-8 regulars coming in at 1430ish and drinking say 5 pints then driving home. This happens daily. If the police wanted they could sit around the corner and catch about 10 DUI individuals from 1600-1900.

After this time it is the night time crowd of multiple drink drivers from 2100 onwards. You sit outside and none of these mullets eveb put their seat belts on.

Literally 10s a night but no one cares. South warwickshire police...do they exist?

[Mr_Megalomaniac]

If you aren't taking Greendubber's approach, then, uhhh... burn the car.

[Jag_NE]

Honestly I wouldn’t get involved because where do you draw the line on what you grass and what you don’t.
Reality is that DD isn’t policed much because it isn’t a priority issue

[Richard-D]

Jag_NE said:

Honestly I wouldn’t get involved because where do you draw the line on what you grass and what you don’t.
Reality is that DD isn’t policed much because it isn’t a priority issue

Actually it's really easy to draw the line. If you genuinely believe it to be a law that's worth enforcing and you can help then you should feel fine about doing so. Eg...

If you learn that someone is abusing a child, would you not want that person stopped? I would.

Drunk driver putting other people's life in danger to save £20 on a taxi? Happy to help officer, what would you like to know?

[Jag_NE]

Richard-D said:

Jag_NE said:

Honestly I wouldn’t get involved because where do you draw the line on what you grass and what you don’t.
Reality is that DD isn’t policed much because it isn’t a priority issue

Actually it's really easy to draw the line. If you genuinely believe it to be a law that's worth enforcing and you can help then you should feel fine about doing so. Eg...

If you learn that someone is abusing a child, would you not want that person stopped? I would.

Drunk driver putting other people's life in danger to save £20 on a taxi? Happy to help officer, what would you like to know?

Whatever works for you

[MB140]

Jag_NE said:

Honestly I wouldn’t get involved because where do you draw the line on what you grass and what you don’t.
Reality is that DD isn’t policed much because it isn’t a priority issue

I’ve posted on here before, I lost my cousin to a drunk driver, 23 Dec 1995, hgv lorry driver multiple times over the limit. She was on the motorway heading back to my uncles for Xmas.

He never even touched the brakes, her little Renault 5 was squished to about the length of a couple of phone books end to end. Steering wheel took the top half of her head off. Thankful she would never have known about it.

It destroyed my uncle, He went from being a lovely outgoing caring man who was the life and sole. To someone I barely recognised within days. He never got over it. I was convinced he was going to do himself in. Turns out me and my brother were the only reason as he couldn’t put us through that. Then there is the rest of the family. Grand parents, my mum and dad. It devastated the whole family. In reality Xmas was never the same for us. It was not a joyful time. We would go to the church and lay flowers every 23 Dec.

So yeah, you carry on not getting involved. Because I hope it never comes back to bite you in the arse if someone you love gets killed by a drunk driver.

I for one think it’s a responsible citizens job to report everyone drink driving. Or better still if it’s a family member. Stop them.

Rant over.

Edited by MB140 on Saturday 19th October 01:52

[jdw100]

Jag_NE said:

Honestly I wouldn’t get involved because where do you draw the line on what you grass and what you don’t.
Reality is that DD isn’t policed much because it isn’t a priority issue

Interesting.

Snitches get stitches?

Drink driving with kids in the car…I think that might be over the line for the majority of people?

[ThunderSpook]

Jag_NE said:

Honestly I wouldn’t get involved because where do you draw the line on what you grass and what you don’t.
Reality is that DD isn’t policed much because it isn’t a priority issue

Why does there always have to be one with the whole “not my problem, it’s not affecting me” attitude?

[Alex Z]

Jag_NE said:

Honestly I wouldn’t get involved because where do you draw the line on what you grass and what you don’t.
Reality is that DD isn’t policed much because it isn’t a priority issue

“Grass”? Are you still at school?

Someone drink driving like this could easily kill people and he needs to be taken off the road.

[Evanivitch]

Jag_NE said:

Honestly I wouldn’t get involved because where do you draw the line on what you grass and what you don’t.
Reality is that DD isn’t policed much because it isn’t a priority issue

Generally draw the line somewhere between somewhat selfish act and potentially murderous (of course, no drunk driver ever gets a punishment anything like murder).

[steveo3002]

false named fb account and name and shame on all the local sites , what about the children etc

get some councillor's involved asking why wont the police react

[Vasco]

Jag_NE said:

Honestly I wouldn’t get involved because where do you draw the line on what you grass and what you don’t.
Reality is that DD isn’t policed much because it isn’t a priority issue

Utter rubbish. Nobody wants drink driving (unless you're one?) and there's far too many innocents killed or maimed.

[Griffith4ever]

Richard-D said:

Drunk driver putting other people's life in danger to save £20 on a taxi?

As an FYI, in a lot of rural locations it isn't a case of £25 for a taxi, its a case of zero taxis. Where I live you simply can't get a taxi on a weekend night as there are none available. Im lucky, its a 1 mile walk home, and a pleasant one usually. But a large amount of the regulars drive home on 5 or 6 pints. Its surprisingly common in proper rural areas. There is nothing else for locals to do and no public transport.

I've had to walk 4miles home from our nearest town once as I simply could not get a taxi, and that town is large enough to have a spoons.

Edited by Griffith4ever on Saturday 19th October 09:27

[Richard-D]

Griffith4ever said:

Richard-D said:

Drunk driver putting other people's life in danger to save £20 on a taxi?

As an FYI, in a lot of rural locations it isn't a case of £25 for a taxi, its a case of zero taxis. Where I live you simply can't get a taxi on a weekend night as there are none available. Im lucky, its a 1 mile walk home, and a pleasant one usually. But a large amount of the regulars drive home on 5 or 6 pints. Its surprisingly common in proper rural areas. There is nothing else for locals to do and no public transport.

I've had to walk 4miles home from our nearest town once as I simply could not get a taxi, and that town is large enough to have a spoons.

Edited by Griffith4ever on Saturday 19th October 09:27

I think I would refer to that as deliberately missing the point for the sake of being argumentative.