Aibu to think he’ll struggle coming back from this (Ant)

[Fruitbat1980]

What a stupid boy. Worth 60 million and doesn’t get a taxi. I just don’t know how he’ll come back from this latest fiasco (drink drive car crash hits 3 year old).

mental health issue and addiction don't go "oh you've got money ill go now then" they are diseases awful illness for each individual no matter where you come from or how much you have.
he has to be able to fight the,.money or not.
putting money and blame on this isn't helpful.
hes done wrong but having money doesn't mean he should be over it any quicker.

I think the fact that he’s ruining Dec’s career too with this absolute shit show is very telling.

They seem to genuinely care about each other so I don’t think he’s be throwing Dec under the bus if he had any sort of control of himself at the moment.

I’ve only met them a couple of times, briefly, and seen them on TV so I could be completely wrong obviously.

I’m not sure the well oiled PR machine can keep bailing him out. They put all of their efforts into the rehab, then making him seem like the good guy when he got sober and dumped his wife, they’ve quashes rumour after rumour about his affairs...

He could have killed a three year old! He doesn’t deserve to come out of that unscathed.

He’s not well. He needs help. He needs to go away. But he needs to be held accountable.

A lot hinges on whether Cowell is willing to have him back I reckon. But he shouldn’t.

I've never watched Ant & Dec on TV, not my thing at all, but I felt sorry for his MH issues until now. But I have zero sympathy for anybody drink driving.

The entire thing hinges on whether he was over the limit and whether the accident was his fault at all.

mental health issue and addiction don't go "oh you've got money ill go now then" they are diseases awful illness for each individual no matter where you come from or how much you have.

That is true. However, if you have sixty million quid, you can (a) afford a taxi (b) afford a driver or (c) pay someone to walk your dogs on a Sunday afternoon. And if you are too ill to make that judgement, you manager, your mother or your PR company can make the decision for you.

You can also, as I am sure many people posting here have done either for themselves or for a family member, pay a few hundred quid to have an immediate psychiatric consultation at a few hours' notice. The punch line being voluntary admission.

Yes, such treatment should be available for all.

But it is a simple fact that if you are rich and unable to control your drinking, help is a phonecall away. A taxi is a phone call away. A dogwalker is a phonecall away. If he was so drunk he couldn't phone for help, then his mother calmly getting in the car with him, rather than calling the police or at the very least trying to stop him from driving, is unconscionable. And if he wasn't that drunk, he was perfectly able to get an Uber.

I think they both did very well out of a children's programme from the last century.
I don't rate them at all, what is either of their talents.
no way would they have been presenters if not on tv as children and already known.
Shelf life coming to an end I think.

The entire thing hinges on whether he was over the limit

He failed a breathtest. Sober people very rarely do that. People who have substantial drink and addiction problems fail breath tests because they are drinking. The claims of "oh, they're not reliable" are largely excuses by drunks.

He might be able to use the money he won't spend on getting sober on getting a smart lawyer to get him off this time, with some byplay about calibration and time before testing or mouthwash or other crap. Then in six months time, he'll still be drinking, but then he might kill someone the next time.

No its not rare. Its a regular request at the police station for those who don't believe they were over the limit. I know several nurses whose job appears to mainly be taking blood from suspected drink drivers to prove they were under over the limit.
Did you read the link? I think you may be a little out of date.

Great post cuboidal

@ 'Between Nov and Jan'

Did you read the link? I think you may be a little out of date

Yes I read the link. You do know that police forces differ across the country and some do actually still allow blood to be taken. Its taken by nurses not Doctors, and they are based on site actually at the Custody suite. That's where they work from so there isn't a huge delay. If they fail to provide at the side of the road and again at the station they will stick a needle in your arm and remove 8 or 9 pints, at least you would think that's how much they take hearing the complaints made.

ReinettePompadour Fair points, well made. Given the statutory right has largely been removed - I'd be surprised if the alleged offender in this case has had a blood test, but I guess it's possible.

Reinette (and a nice Dr Who reference), are you sure that what you are describing is a right to have bloods taken? The current position as I understand it is that you can be convicted on the basis of either a blood sample or an approved intoximeter, and it is the police's choice which they use. If there is no intoximeter available, the police can insist you provide a sample, and obviously need the means to do that.

If indeed you are seeing the police having police-employed nurses available on site in order to permit people to demand a blood sample be taken and analysed even when there is an approved intoximeter, I can only say that you live someone whose police budgets need to be cut a bit to remove waste.

The entire thing hinges on whether he was over the limit and whether the accident was his fault at all.

Whether the accident was his fault is largely irrelevant if he was over the limit.

Whether the accident was his fault is largely irrelevant if he was over the limit.

Even if he wasn't over the limit, the accident could still be his fault. And, as described, it sounds like it was.

Looking at the pictures, there was a fair amount of energy in the accident, and the car containing the three year old has taken a pretty substantial impact. One of the two Minis involved lost a front strut, which also points to there having been quite a lot of energy involved. So the most likely explanation, even if he was stone cold sober, is "someone driving too fast on roundabout in wintery weather finds handling limits of short wheelbase front wheel drive car, spins, hits other cars", and the question will be whether "someone" is him or the driver of the other car. If you get arsey with a policeman while being breathtested, and fail the breathtest, Occam's Razor isn't going to be your friend.

Poor fella he's obviously got issues I hope he doesn't do something silly!

Surely the sympathy here needs to be with the young girl, not with him.

Surely it depends on whether he's guilty. The press are all covering their backs, the reports say "allegedly" in just about every sentence and he hasn't been charged with anything. I hope none of you are ever called up for jury service.

I cant believe the drink driving apologists on here. He's a talentless idiot who has been tremendously lucky to get as far as he has. There're no excuse for his actions. He's an arse

I feel sorry for Dec, Ant isn't just going to ruin his own career.

No one irrespective of class, likes someone who gets above their station

Oh please. Ant and Dec have been media darlings and "national treasures" for years now. They are our most popular entertainers. Even when Ant's issues started to come to light, the overwhelming public mood was sympathy. But when someone drinks and gets behind the wheel they don't deserve any more sympathy.

I've seen the very defensive/angry posts from people who are worried one of their favourite Saturday shows might get pulled, mocking any mention of the three year old because she wasn't hurt, but that comes entirely down to luck, and it's not something that should be swept under the carpet just to protect a TV show because he could end up killing someone.

It's not being a drunk driving apologist to point out that he hasn't actually been charged with drunk driving.

Surely Dec has been around long enough abnd has enough about him (and his own money to th row at the problem) to re invent himself. He's even alliterative!