Afluenza Case in the UK Courts

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A 56-year-old woman has argued in court that she should not have been served a driving ban after being convicted of drink-driving – as her ¼ mile driveway is too long for her to walk down.

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Woodward was found to be around three times over the legal drink-drive limit when stopped by police at 9am on November 17. She had reportedly driven her £80,000 Mercedes G-Class SUV to purchase sparkling wine with which to make bucks fizz for friends. After being refused alcohol at a petrol station, police were called as she made her way at 5mph to a nearby post office. One officer said Woodward appeared to have been up all night.

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As well as begging to be spared a driving ban, Woodward asked that she not be served with an order of unpaid work. She had never worked in her life and the order would 'put her in an alien surrounding', she told the courts.

It seems she was at least partly successful-:

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Magistrates spared Woodward the unpaid work, but she was handed a two-year driving ban, ordered to complete a 12 month community order and pay a £560 fine as well as £705 in costs.

I could actually feel a degree of sympathy based on the fact that her husband had just died except that her pain from this event seems to be based on no longer having a self writing chequebook-:

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Woodward told the hearing: "I buried my husband on Wednesday 15th November and the months leading up to it were terrible. He did everything, and then when he died I had to take over.

The ban seems entirely appropriate but the fine seems terribly small for someone of those apparent means. As both effects of both the driving ban and the fine will be far less to her than for someone without her wealth who, for example couldn't afford taxis and actually had a job to get to (or that relied on their license), it seems to me that imposing an unpaid work order would be entirely appropriate.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/2BMWBPF