I’m really scared about a disciplinary

[Hammondhugh]

I posted yesterday in reference to the speeding issue I have and that I have made the decision to attend a court date and be honest with my employer about everything. I work in education. And I’ve NEVER been in trouble with the law. I was driving over the speed limit near a camera and I’ve been caught, as I work in the education sector. I’m really scared about disciplinary action etc. I’m obviously a nervous wreck. I’m scared they’ll give me a warning or that I’ll be in a lot of trouble for all of this. I don’t know what to do. I really don’t. I know I’m going to tell the truth but I’m actually very scared of what they’ll say to me. I know that what I did was stupid. But if I lose my job I lose everything

Why would your employer be able to discipline you for it? It's nothing to do with them.

Speak to ACAS or your union. It’s nothing to do with your work.

OP, you cannot be disciplined at work for speeding - unless your job is an actual, driving job! You don’t even need to tell your employer.
You should, however, consider your next steps with regard to how fast you were driving. 80 in a 50 zone is extremely dangerous. You say you have ADHD and anxiety, you should see your GP for advice going forward. The people I know with diagnosed ADHD generally drive safely.

Stop believing some of the bullshit that’s written on MN. Why on earth would you get a disciplinary when it’s nothing to do with your job?
You’re getting yourself unnecessarily worked up OP, yes it’s a serious offence but it’s not going to end up with you going to jail is it?
Ignore the shit stirrers who have nothing better to do than prey on screwing up anxious people on here.

I’ve worked with teachers who have been given into trouble with police etc due to speeding. None of them attended court though. I imagine you’ll need a day off to go to court so I wouldn’t wait for the date to come through. I would go and speak to your head teacher now and try to calmly explain the situation. Explain you were speeding, it was due to , it’s a first time offence but due to the nature of the speed you’ve to attend court. You wanted to let them know quickly as you’ll need a days leave for the court day. You know this was a mistake, you judged wrong at the time and you have very much will not let this happen again. Be up front and say if this results in a ban then you will still be able to attend work as you will make other arrangements to get there on time.
You’ll just need to wait and see what happens. I’m sorry you’re so nervous but sadly I’m not sure that anyone can reassure you as much as to say what your boss might say. It may not impact your work or they may want to discuss it further.

I think the anxiety of it all is making you feel worse so it may be best tk tell them sooner to get it started and hopefully over with.

OP have you actually read your employment contract? That will tell you what you need to declare to your employer. Motoring offences are usually excluded unless you drive as part of your role, However, if you make a court appearance, you may need to inform them as it might be picked up by local journalists and reported and may include the name of the school.
Having read this and your previous thread, I think you might feel better once you have told your employer as you are currently so anxious about. They might be able to offer you some support too if they have an employee assistance programme or something in place.

I worked for an Ambulance Trust and our drivers would be disciplined for doing 80 in a 50 - they’re only allowed to go 20mph above the indicated speed limit on blue lights for safety reasons. If the ambulance was doing 80mph I’d be careful using that as a defence. The driver is almost certainly going to be getting points and a disciplinary.

I’d watch the “unmedicated ADHD” defence as well.

80 in a 50 zone is indicative of something deeper going on... BUT the salient point is that speeding is not a 'criminal offence' and won't be picked up on a DBS check.

Well in that case why on earth is she panicking? Yes she shouldn't have done it but there were mitigating circumstances even if the worse case scenario is that she was able to ve disciplined at work for this ( although she won't be).

I no you are extremely anxious but you need to think rationally about this. I work in HR,

1. you don’t need your car for work, I.e a sales job and therefore you can carry out your role still so it has no detriment in your role.

2 why don’t you take the points and not involve court? 3 it needs to be gross misconduct to dismiss if you haven’t been in trouble before, what does your disciplinary policy say about what constitutes gross misconduct? 4 court involvement could mean anything, I think as you work in school it makes sense they would like to know if anyone has done anything that would impact the children they are safeguarding - you haven’t so I think it is highly likely that you would get dismissed for it. 5 in my organisation this would not be gross misconduct at all, no where near, but you will need to check your policies and see what the wording is around court involvement.

I can’t edit, I meant highly unlikely!

You probably should seek medication and therapy to help you cope with this.

If the worst case scenario was losing your job, it's still infinitely better than facing prison for having killed someone - or multiple someones - driving so recklessly (the ambulance thing is not an excuse not least because even the ambulance wasn't going as fast as that!).

Going to court, accepting the fine/points/ban, getting into trouble for the first time at work - these are nothing compared to what you would be living with if you weren't so lucky.

Whatever happens, you can survive it. You can survive feeling shame and judgement, if disciplined you will survive that too. Even if you did get sacked, you can survive it. You will get through this, but you should seek some help and support. You certainly need to face what you did, accept how wrong and dangerous it was and make sure you learn from this.

Will my school name appear on the record

I'm genuinely quite worried about you going to court over this rather than taking the points, I was thinking about it yesterday.

I feel like you might think that you can say about the ambulance and the relative and that this might garner sympathy but I honestly feel like it might make things worse rather than better.

It's going to make it sound like you weren't in control of what you were doing because of external circumstances.

The way you talked about it on your first thread, about how it's your first offence and and you have never done anything like this before and so on make it sound like you feel like you are almost justified in what happened.

I think if you are going to court you need to take responsibility for it.

I've just been caught for speeding. There's no box to say why you did it on the form, obviously and it's only human that you want to say 'well actually there was a reason I was speeding it's........'.

Everyone who speeds has a reason that they do it. People are rushed off in ambulances all of the time.

I understand why you decided to go to court as you feel like you what to give your side of the story, but I am convinced that it's not going to improve the situation.

I hope your relative is OK. And I do feel sympathy for the situation that you are in now.

Is there no way you can change your mind and take the points instead of?

I think as you have decided to be honest with your employer then that's what you need to do.

Go to work and ask for a quick word with whoever it is you need to tell.

Then say that you have been caught for speeding and that you might need some time off to go to court and that you will of course let them know the date as soon as you know it.

Then say something like 'I better go and collect my photocopying'.

And leave.

I got caught doing 69 in a 40 (dual carriageway - I thought the roadworks zone had finished - it hadn't!) My first offence of any kind and I didn't have to go to court let alone disclose to my employer...stop turning a very minor blip into a disaster. You'll probably get 3 points and a fine like I did.

I think you might benefit from asking your gp for a referral for cbt, or you can normally self refer to a local service, for help in coping skills and emotional regulation. You’re wilding catastrophising given that your job doesn’t involve driving and you didn’t have a child in your car at the time you were driving.

When is the court date OP?

@Hammondhugh please don’t try and conduct your own defence and instruct a good lawyer if you are intending to plead not guilty to speeding.

Please speak to a solicitor OP about getting legal representation which could very well stop you getting banned, given the mitigating circumstances. I have a colleague who has been to court twice and not been banned with a good advocate.

If it reassures you about your job, I have another colleague who was caught drink driving twice and not been sacked (not sure if this is a good thing tbh!) Not teaching but healthcare, so still responsible job etc.

But also go and see your GP. You sound like you are incredibly anxious and unable to think rationally and I'm worried about you

It would likely only lead to disciplinary action if you had to drive during the course of your work (eg covered a wide area and had to do home visits) and you lost your license.

If you had chosen no court, then what would the punishment have been?

In your other thread you said that you had a sick relative in hospital and that was why you were speeding. Any sensible employer would take that into account.

Anyway we need good teachers. They won't want to lose you for one moment of madness.

The OP's 'moment of madness' could easily have put other people’s relatives in hospital - or else the morgue. It's only luck that they didn't. 80 in a 50 is really dangerous. And yes, I've done emergency dashes to the hospital but you can't speed like that not least because you're likely to cause a much bigger delay by having an accident en route!

I work in HR in an educational establishment (not a school), part of my role is talking to people who have offences disclosed on their DBS and deciding what to do about it. We take into account whether the offence is relevant to your duties and, particularly, whether it represents a safeguarding risk. We ask about the circumstances of the offence and the person's attitude to it (ie, do they express regret etc).

I can't see how speeding would be relevant and the wider circumstances (relative in hospital) do explain a one off lapse of judgement.

Usual caveats apply - I don't know your organisation and your policies. I'd suggest speaking to your HR/Senior team asap to put your mind at rest.