Needing advice from a HR personnel or manager please

[Apfm]

Hi

I am writing this post on behalf off my daughter. My daughter has always been a good person (couple of teenager moments lol but nothing bad) she never committed a crime or brought police to my door and always paid her way in life, a very independent girl but unfortunately in 2021 she was put in a position that no woman should be. She entered a relationship with a man who seemed like a good man at the time. He has some kids that she was fully accepted of and spent some time with them 3-4 months into the relationship this man stole her bank card details, took money and started claims that ‘gangsters where after him’ my daughter being the person she is paid debt for him and gave him money for food for his kids ect. One night she was out with friends and he did not take to this kindly but she went out and enjoyed herself anyway. When she returned home he was at her door waiting on her. She’s didn’t think anything wrong with it and they proceeded into the property. Unfortunately he became violent against her that night and hit her to the point she fell on the ground. My daughter panicked that she was going to die and unfortunately grabbed her car keys and got in her car and drove away.. she drove to the end of the road and parked up the police stopped her and she explained what happened and she fully admitted to the officers that she had been drinking. As a result of this she received a 1 year driving ban and had regretted her decision ever since and suffers some depression over it.

after her bann ended she redone her test and has been driving again for 3 years. On her previous license of 9 years she never had penalty points/convictions or any car accidents. Since all this she has focused on her education got a degree and last summer she got her dream job which she has excelled in and has made great relationships and she has been so happy since joining this company. The role is hybrid working from home and office based. If she has to travel to site she is drove by someone on the company insurance and if she has to drive to training ect she always drives her own vehicle which she has her own insurance for that covers business travel. When applying for the job it asked do you have a valid uk license which she did. The company have now brought in a annual licence check and unfortunately her endorsement will show. She is now worried she will lose her job even tho the policy dose not mention previous endorsement only if you have received endorsements. She plans to have a meeting with HR and advise that she is more than happy to do the check but instead of them discovering she has an endorsement she would rather tell them herself.

she is now petrified she is going to lose her job. Could someone please advise the best approach to this. My daughter knows what she done that night was wrong and like I said she beats herself up a lot about it but she is a really good kind hearted person who made a mistake in a bad circumstance.

I used to work with victims of domestic abuse, a drink drive charge was surprisingly common in similar circumstances to those you describe. I can't say what her company will do but being honest is the best thing she can do. If it isn't a barrier to the work and she only drives her own car which is appropriately insured I would hope it would be ok but no one can tell you definitively

Also are you sure her endorsement is still active? Most are usually 4 years she can check with the dvla.
ETA endorsements are from the date of conviction rather than the date the ban ends

https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence

Here's the link so she can check

I really wouldn’t assume she’ll lose her job. She has a valid licence, has served her ban and answered the question honestly when applying. I think she’s right to speak to HR, explain the circumstances briefly and take responsibility for what happened. Unless her conviction affects her ability to do the job or breaches a specific policy, there’s no reason to assume it will be an issue. I hope she gets some reassurance.

Really hope it comes right for your daughter.... 👍

As someone said - it's not at all uncommon with victims fleeing DV.

I would very much frame it as

Something like:

I want to make HR aware, as it may come up .. When I was fleeing a DV situation x years ago, I was terrified, jumped in car... I was in fear for my life... 100metres down the road the police stopped me... I was slightly over limit.. I've since retaken my test - have had no convictions before or after.

I'd rather let you know.

Does she drive any company vehicles? It doesn't sound like it from your post. I oversee our annual driving licence audit and if she's not driving company vehicles we wouldn't be concerned about this. Even if she does it I doubt it will affect her job, in all the years I've been doing the audit all we've ever done is notify the team who deals with insurance, no one has ever lost their job if they have a current valid license regardless of what's on it.

Hi,

Thank you so much for your response, this is reassuring. No she drives no company vehicles and she completely understands that the company could not insure her with a drink driving conviction. She won’t even claim mileage because she doesn’t feel like she deserves to.

She a nswered all questions honestly. If the company had wanted to know about previous convictions they would have asked. I'm sure that HR will reassure her.
Incidentally she should claim expenses she shouldn't have to pay to do her job. It is time for her to forgive herself, or else they user is still controlling her. Has she has any counselling around this?

Hi,

Thank you so much for your kind words. She called the DVLA and they told her that although her conviction is classified as spent, a drink driving endorsement stays on her license for 11 years.

https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence

If it’s been 5 years since the conviction it will be spent and will be filtered off if you provide employer only with the check code. Don’t offer up a printed copy of the licence. Employer should be following the correct process as explained on the govt website.

Dont rush to inform HR as if it’s spent it should not show under filtering. You can test it out by generating a code.

I am not saying that the DVLA are wrong here - I don't know, but I would say that they once advised me of something incorrectly. I phoned back to double check and was correctly advised the second time.

As for HR/the company, I don't think I'd volunteer this information but I'd be surprised if your DD lost her job over this.