Will my teacher friend lose her job?

[thelightofthenkew]

Primary school teacher going to court in the new year for driving while disqualified, they were banned for 6 months due to accumulating too many points on their licence.

They will be convicted as they are pleading guilty, will this mean they will get the sack from their job? Anyone know a similar situation happen before?

Asking for a friend.

This person had already done whatever they did to lose their licence then drove, anyway.

@thelightofthenkew i also meant to say that if it is deemed not to be a safeguarding matter (which I think is likely, given no children were placed at risk of harm due to it taking place outside of work), they will likely agree a mutual termination via a settlement agreement if they don’t sack for some other substantial reason (SOSR dismissal). An SOSR dismissal is quite a technical dismissal so would come down to trust and confidence and/or reputational damage.

I knew a headteacher who got banned for drink driving. She was suspended while they 'investigated' but ultimately kept her job and stayed on until she retired. I definitely think they look at the circumstances. She was only a little over and I believe a family member had a medical emergency. She was actually a lovely lady. These things aren't always so black and white. If they are ultimately a good teacher, it would be sad to lose them from the profession when there is already a teacher shortage.

So a person is already disqualifed to drive but had a brain freeze and did not remember they were disqualifed?no? Then what on earth is there to be understanding about? They drove becase someone was having a heartache and needed to go to hospital? OK if that type of thing I guess there may be mitigating circumstances otherwise seriously?

Teacher of 18 years experience here, never been in trouble myself but know the system. A lot will depend on the schools view if the issue, the school may just deal with it as an internal matter - the action didn't and won't put a child a risk of harm, so wouldn't automatically get reported to the TRA, it would be classed as potentially bringing the profession into disrepute, and that sort of referral is usually done by the head/board of governors, so whether they are prepared to look the other way will likely be key.

My opinion is we are short enough on teaching staff without chucking people out for offences that had nothing to do with the job of teaching or pupil safety - in the ideal world we'd be swamped with good teachers and able to be punitive, but thats not the case.

She should be punished by the courts for the crime she committed, in a fair way, as anyone else would, and that should be an end to it.

Yet being a parent is considered less important, maybe parents who break these laws should also be banned from being parents but they won't be, they can blissfully carry on being appalling role models.

I work in a bank, also regulated and I’d be out on my arse if I did this. If one of DC’s teachers showed such poor lack of judgment I’d not want them teaching my kids.

It says they throughout.

@baileybrosbuildingandloan Thread title is: Will my teacher friend lose her job?

Your "friend " is obviously female as you put "her" in your heading and "they" in the body of your AIBU. I'm registered with HCPC and driving while banned would be a disciplinary and stackable offence. I'd lose my professional registration. In these circumstances she got banned from driving then carried on anyway. Obviously she has driven like a spanner on several occasions so it's safe to say that there is a problem. Ivsauvif she lost he rjob she gets what she deserves. For someone intelligent enough to teach she sounds thick.

And it appears so do I with my spelling errors 😅

I'm not sure if your friend will be struck off, but the whole idea of professional regulation is to ensure standards of behavior are upheld and that the regulated profession/vocation isn't brought into disrepute.

Driving whilst disqualified is a demonstration of poor judgement and any prosecution will be public.

So your friend can be found to be both unsuitable for a position of trust and embarrassing to their office or profesion.

Yes, they can be struck from any professional register. Whether they will be is a matter for the regulator.

If your friend isn't a practicing member of a regulated profession, they can still be disciplined by their employer if their conduct amounts to a breach of their contract.

DWD is a community sentence. They won't get custody. As for the teaching job, I don't know. There's a shortage of teachers right now so that will factor in to the decision

@EmpressSoleil this is not the case. Sentencing guidelines clearly show custody is in the range of options available to the court. It is an extremely serious offence that people can and do go to prison for, please don't post unless you are sure of your facts.

https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/drive-whilst-disqualified-revised-2017/

sentencing guidelines DWD. I think that saying it is “extremely serious” might be over egging the pudding as it’s a less serious offence, tried in the magistrates court. While you can go to jail to it, that seems quite unlikely here if she is of good character and probably a first offence etc. It’s not more serious than drunk driving in terms of sentence and points on license:

https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/outlines/drink-driving/

In fact I’d say drink driving carries more of a stigma than DWD (especially when the original reason for the ban was totting up points) so if teachers keep their jobs for drink driving then I can’t see DWD treated much differently.

@PickAChew you are right. Just read my post back I missed one important thing he was hammered.

The thought of not being able to drive, to get to work, so lose your job, is a horrible thought.

I was so angry with myself, got a speeding ticket in a 30 picking ds up, the road leading into the actual Nottingham uni last Christmas, I can't understand how I could have been so careless. Easily done.

Another one post OP.

Replying for a friend. 😂

@oblomov. I’ve done the same. Lots of cameras have no film in them so lots don’t get caught and tell themselves it’s because they are careful drivers. With totting up you don’t automatically lose your licence as they can decide not to ban if eg you really need your car for work or caregiving.

I'd think that driving daily into a school and around those children makes it even more serious.

Im surprised so many posters are saying theyd lose their job over this ..I thought driving offences were seen in a more lenient way than other offences when it comes to working with vulnerable people and in roles which require a DBs.

But it's less about it being a driving offence and more the dishonesty. If she'd confessed to the ban then she'd probably have been ok especially as it was under the totting up procedure. However she deliberately ignored a driving ban and continued driving so her honesty and integrity are also now called into question as well.

The list of offences the TRA will investigate does not include any driving offences, but it will investigate dishonesty, whether it would in this case is a bit hazy IMHO

Also they won't find out from the court or the DBS, rather from the school, the conviction will however of course show up on the next DBS.

I'm going to suggest she first talks to her union, but then, if it were me I would write to the headteacher, explaining the position, apologising etc. before the court date, I would be asking the head what action (if any) he/she would take.

I would ask if they intend referring tha matter to the TRA and if yes, I would ask if I could instead refer myself to the TRA - a self referral to a professional body shows contrition and acceptance of a need for investigation, and much, much more likely to get a sympathetic eye and lenient outcome.

DWD is not a dishonesty offence

It's considered more serious than drunk driving as it's flouting a court order