BAKERS SOLICITORS BECOME THE FIRST SOLICITORS FIRM TO PROVIDE DRINK DRIVING REHABILITATION SCHEME COURSE

Bakers Solicitors are the first solicitors firm in the UK to be accredited by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency to deliver the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Scheme Course (DDRS).

The purpose of an approved DDRS course is to enable those convicted of certain drink-driving offences to benefit from an educational opportunity. The course is designed to discourage drink-drive related reoffending and thereby contribute to reducing road casualties by improving decision making and driving behaviour.

Bakers Solicitors Partner Kirsten Collings said ‘we are delighted that Bakers Solicitors has been approved as a DDRS course provider especially as we are currently the only Solicitors in the UK to offer this course’.

The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) report[1] demonstrated that offenders who had not attended a DDRS course were between 2 and 3 times more likely to reoffend than those who had undertaken a course. This figure applied up to 2 years after the initial conviction.

Tony Dales, Licensing Manager at Bakers Solicitors will be responsible for running the DDRS courses. Tony stated that ‘the aim of the course is to challenge the offenders behaviour and attitude whilst making them aware of their alcohol consumption and habits. We will work with them to formulate an action plan to change their behaviour in the future. It is a hard hitting course designed to make them aware of their actions and attendance will result in a reduction of their ban by up to 25%.’

Tony went on to add ‘We have found that a lot of people are unaware of the effects of alcohol consumption and how long it takes for alcohol to leave their system so some offenders are convicted of driving the morning after the night out before. It is also about banishing common misconceptions such as eating whilst drinking alcohol means you can drink more and still be under the limit.’

Bakers will be running the courses at a number of locations from March 2014. To stay up-to-date with Bakers news like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

[1] The drink/drive rehabilitation scheme: evaluation and monitoring. Final Report. TRL Report TRL613. Smith, L. Buckle, G. Keigan, M. Buttress. S and Stone. J (2004)