The Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course

Convicted Driver Insurance
Hi All (again)

My course, which was due to start in August (2010) has just been cancelled. My court completion date ( for reduction), however, is 18th September.

I've just gone online (only got back from work tonight) and there's no locations even listed in the drop down menu. So I can't see if there's anywhere even remotely close by that I could take the course.

What can I do? I'm starting to feel really desperate now. I live in a fairly remote area, I'm desperately missing my car, relying on friends to carry me around because the transport network is ****, and I have an elderly dog who's being tested for all sorts of potential geriatric anomalies. (Not that i use that as an excuse.)

And I'm still the same peed off 'high Offender' that was too nervous to give a full sample at the Police Station. Am I really the first? Am I?

Seriously gutted. No I don't want to sit around eating Bourbon Biscuits with a bunch of people that only want to procure their next can of stella, nor do I want to sit around people who claim to know the finite unit of every drink they serve, yet still end up being done for drink driving.

Sometimes admitting you're wrong is a way forward?

I think I digressed. Another question, I don't need to retake my test do I? There was no mention of points or anything at my trial, does that mean they're non existant?

Cheesrs
 
Hi All (again)

My course, which was due to start in August (2010) has just been cancelled. My court completion date ( for reduction), however, is 18th September.

I've just gone online (only got back from work tonight) and there's no locations even listed in the drop down menu. So I can't see if there's anywhere even remotely close by that I could take the course.

What can I do? I'm starting to feel really desperate now. I live in a fairly remote area, I'm desperately missing my car, relying on friends to carry me around because the transport network is ****, and I have an elderly dog who's being tested for all sorts of potential geriatric anomalies. (Not that i use that as an excuse.)

And I'm still the same peed off 'high Offender' that was too nervous to give a full sample at the Police Station. Am I really the first? Am I?

Seriously gutted. No I don't want to sit around eating Bourbon Biscuits with a bunch of people that only want to procure their next can of stella, nor do I want to sit around people who claim to know the finite unit of every drink they serve, yet still end up being done for drink driving.

Sometimes admitting you're wrong is a way forward?

I think I digressed. Another question, I don't need to retake my test do I? There was no mention of points or anything at my trial, does that mean they're non existant?

Cheesrs

You do not receive points for driving with excess alcohol if you were disqualified from driving for the offence. Unless the Magistrates stipulated you had to re-take your driving test, you will not have too.

As for the course being cancelled, sometimes, if course providers do not get enough people enrolled on a particular course, it is cancelled. Unfortunately, if you havent completed the course by the date you were instructed to complete it, regardless of the reason, then your period of disqualification will not be reduced. It is always wise to not leave completing the course to the very last minute for this reason.

I would suggest ringing them and seeing what courses are available in other areas, even if it involves a lot of travelling in order to attend.
 
I recently booked my course. Living near Southampton gave me several options which was good. I chose the Saturday course so I would not have to take time off work and waste my annual leave. The course starts at 9am and finishes at 3pm. For some reason I assumed it was for two days but it is actually three Saturdays in a row - more reason for not taking time off in the week. Also, I noticed there were no weekday evening courses available.

On the positive side, I am grateful the court offered me the opportunity to attend a course and reduce my driving ban.

Having attended courses of a similar kind (for work-related study) I wondered if the 18-hour duration is really necessary. From what I have experienced from study modules and learnt from reading this forum topic, it sounds like the rehab course could be carried out in an 8-hour day rather than 18. The explanation of facts and figures can be explained effectively in a short space of time by a good quality lecturer. To bulk out the time, unnecessary features are generally added such as overly long and numerous lunch breaks, discussions that go off on a tangent, delays between subjects, group discussions and repetitive overviews of what has already been talked about.

I guess the course planners spread it out over such a long period to cause extra inconvenience to the participants (and please the courts) not to mention justify the expensive course fee. After all, how would they explain charging £175 for just one 8-hour day?

Overall, having not attended the course yet, I cannot prejudge but I anticipate learning something and reducing my driving ban. Now to go and post my cheque...
 
I think there's a degree of luck involved in whether you get a good course or not. From what I've read on here it sounds like some courses are good and some not so good. What they all have in common though is that they have to cover certain information which is laid down by the Department of Transport.

The guy who gave the course I did also said that the DOT are also the ones who decided how long the course should be, as well as the rule that the course shouldn't be delivered on three consecutive days (except in "certain circumstances which weren't revealed).

I can only guess at the reasons for the length of the course. It was stressed during mine that the course isn't meant to be an additional punishment, but it does seem to me that deliberately stretching out the course beyond the time necessary would be a move someone might make if they wanted to make sure that people never get off easy with a quick course.
 
I agreed to do this course and was under the impression that I would be contacted about this but havent heard a thing in weeks - Can anyone advise what I should do? I'm not sure if I was given any contact details but I certainly have paperwork telling me to expect to be contacted by the relevant agency...?

Hi,
the best thing you can do is go back to the court and explain to them the situation.
Passenger.
 
I recently booked my course. Living near Southampton gave me several options which was good. I chose the Saturday course so I would not have to take time off work and waste my annual leave. The course starts at 9am and finishes at 3pm. For some reason I assumed it was for two days but it is actually three Saturdays in a row - more reason for not taking time off in the week. Also, I noticed there were no weekday evening courses available.

On the positive side, I am grateful the court offered me the opportunity to attend a course and reduce my driving ban.

Having attended courses of a similar kind (for work-related study) I wondered if the 18-hour duration is really necessary. From what I have experienced from study modules and learnt from reading this forum topic, it sounds like the rehab course could be carried out in an 8-hour day rather than 18. The explanation of facts and figures can be explained effectively in a short space of time by a good quality lecturer. To bulk out the time, unnecessary features are generally added such as overly long and numerous lunch breaks, discussions that go off on a tangent, delays between subjects, group discussions and repetitive overviews of what has already been talked about.

I guess the course planners spread it out over such a long period to cause extra inconvenience to the participants (and please the courts) not to mention justify the expensive course fee. After all, how would they explain charging £175 for just one 8-hour day?

Overall, having not attended the course yet, I cannot prejudge but I anticipate learning something and reducing my driving ban. Now to go and post my cheque...

Hi Andy,
dont know if you have finished

the course yet,how did you get on.
Passenger.
 
Hi all,

I received my ban in January for 20months. I was sentenced in Norfolk and live in Oxfordshire because of my job. I received all the information regarding my driver's rehabilitation course through DriveWise. The nearest venue to me is in Greater London, over an hour away. However, from using the venue searcher on this webiste I have seen that there is another provider only 17mins away. Is there any way I can change providers? Any help on the would be much appreciated.

Brad.
 
i am facing DWI charges after allegedly showing up drunk to drive with my daughter home from school.so i need to join in The Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course i want to do it
 
Hi everyone,

Really hope someone can help here - and give me some hope!

I was convicted last February (2010) or drink driving, and was given the option to go on the rehab course, which would mean my ban would be reduced from 28 to 21 months and I'd be entitled to get my license back in November this year (2011). I was told at the court that the course provider would get in touch with me close to this date, as I had to do the course close to the end of my ban (today I've been reading all the info on this site and can't find anything about that, but actually it's the other way round... I guess I could have misheard but I don't think I did).

With November approaching, I hadn't heard anything from the course provider or from the court, or DVLA. So I got out all my paperwork and found that I actually had to complete the course by last week. I had no idea this deadline existed until today, I know it's also my fault because I should have read the paperwork more carefully at the beginning of the ban, but I was also surprised not to hear anything from course/court. I informed the court that I had been stopped, and therefore convicted, in an area that wasn't close to where i lived so I would prefer to do the course close to home, and they told me I had to wait for the original course info to come through before asking to change to another provider...

I'm absolutely gutted now, I have heard nothing but good things about the course, and obviously wanted the benefits of the reduced ban. I've spent all day trying to get through to the Magistrates Court but with no success, so thought I'd post here to see if anyone has any advice - does anyone think it will still be possible for me to do the course? Also, even if I've missed the deadline and can't qualify for the reduction, is there still a chance I can do the course after, in order to gain all the information, and help me with my insurance/high risk status?

Will keep trying to get through to the Court, but thanks for any help you can give....
 
It sounds like a few doses of bad luck have conspired against you there. All I can suggest is that you try to find a local course provider, see when they have spaces on their course, and then contact the court and tell them that you have the space sorted if they will accept it.

The worst they can say is, "No," but here's hoping they give you a break.
 
I did this course to reduce my ban. I was so worried and embarrassed before it started but when I got there felt better as I realised everyone is in the same boat! Instructor was a nice chap and made us feel at ease. It was really interesting to hear other’s stories, how they had ended up in the class like me, experiences they had had with the courts and police etc.

It was a real eye opener, I didn't realise how uneducated I was with regards to alcohol and units. I would often drive the next day after a night out and have no idea I could still be over the limit!!

They also cover the effects of alcohol on your body and organs which is good to know too, at the age of 30 I knew this was my time to settle down and knock all the partying on the head – everything in moderation!

The course is supposed to help in lowering insurance premiums, I have to say I have not found this tbh. The companies who advertised discounts for course completion were at least £300 more that the lowest I found. They were Octagon or Tesco (if you are a Tesco club card member you get an online 15% discount) and neither even asked about the course.

Overall I would recommend the rehabilitation course, I personally was willing to do anything to get back on the road sooner and actually learned something along the way too!
 
Hi everyone,

quick question, do you know if its possible to do the course at weekends up here in Scotland? Its apparent that you can in England but not so sure about Scotland.

Many Thanks,

Drt
 
I am 1/3 through my drink driving course today and I was absolutely terrified what was going to happen... I should not have been so worried.

The course is designed to make you feel comfortable and their is no contempt or judgement being made towards you at all, just education and participating with group discussion's and some very basic skills being used to work out units and some easy homework to do.

I have to say that talking in front of a group of people you have never met before is daunting for anyone, but everyone is in the same boat as you, so don't worry if you turn red... and come across shy... everyone is at first.

I have to admit though I am also worried about sharing my experience with the group as it's kind of a mini presentation on how you got to be on the course. I am going to keep it as short and sweet as possible but who knows I might get a bit more confidence and embellish a little. for entertainment purposes.

Their is one downfall with any large group of stranger's, their is one guy in their that loves the sound of his voice, he is the first to answer before anyone and gives all the answers before anyone can speak... very irritating as much of the other people don't get to say anything and come across shy.

Overall, the course administrator's are excellent especially the lady, very friendly and so relaxed made us feel so welcomed... so very lucky for that, the people I am with are mix of professional's / working class and ex army folk, I think it is definately worth doing for the educational purposes and the reduction of your ban, my ban is 3 year's, If I complete the course this would be reduced to 2 year's 3 months "25% off, 9 months".

I have my 2/3 on the 12th Dec and the final day on the 16th, so far so good.

Hope this helps....
 
I am glad you found the course informative and not as worrying as you initially thought. I finished my course back in July/August and wrote about it on another thread (somewhere?!) to explain how it all went.
I agree that it was very informative and I really learnt something about how units of alcohol are processed and how long they stay in your system – longer than I previously thought.

The people were of a mottled mixture – professionals, old, young, two women (and thirteen of us men) and all those in between. Of course we had one gentleman who was on his second ban in ten years who had a big mouth and would not let anyone else speak. His favourite topic of discussion was himself and he made himself sound like such a twit. Clearly he hadn’t learnt from his mistake and he failed to turn up again after the first day. I think the tutor said he had failed to do one of the classes earlier on in his ban.

One of the funny things was that we had a handful of know-alls including a medical professional who was a wealth of knowledge when it came to the facts and figures and attempted to correct the tutor if he thought he was wrong. The tutor joking suggested to him that with his knowledge he should have been more discerning before attempting to drive after ten pints!

Any more comments from me here will only be a repeat of my earlier comment posted on the earlier thread. I will repeat that overall, the course was well done and recommended.
 
Just to keep you informed, I completed the 2nd day on 12th of December and have my final day tomorrow 16th December...

Not looking forward to this one as everyone as to share their experience on the events leading up to getting arrested, via a storyboard.

I don't mind participating in group discussions with everyone and being involved with all other activities, however talking about the day which ruin my life brings back horrible memories and to share them with strangers makes me feel very small indeed, however I have to push through and hopefully can get through it.

Once this is done then the rest is child's play...

Good luck to anyone trying to reduce their ban doing this course as it is very good and will make you think twice having any kind of drink when driving.

If I drink drive over the limit again, I will happily have a life time ban and a queue of 100 female kick boxers ready to swiftly kick me in to gonads, while I am tied up, with a ball gag in my mouth, wearing my sexy aunts slutty dress.... errmmm, oppps sorry a bit to much information....
 
It seems that your course tutor is running his/her course slightly different to the one I went to. Rather than on the third meeting explain in story form what happened to us when we were first arrested, we were asked right from the start to take turns introducing ourselves and giving the class a run down on what happened to us. We all had the option to say 'pass' when it came to telling our stories. Out of the 15 people in my class, three opted to pass on sharing their experience whilst the rest were only too happy to enlighten us. There was no pressure and it got the most difficult part over with straight away. In actual fact, having that at the beginning made it so much easier to communicate with everyone, realising we were all in the same boat and were able to freely share our thoughts.
 
We also got to tell our stories at the start. There was no pass option, but a few people had "forgotten" their readings and the tutor moved on.
 
i have just got an 18 month ban and the option to do the course, if i do the course what will it take my ban to? thanks

I've got an 18 month ban currently when I complete the course it'll get it down to 13.5 months (been banned for just over a month now)
 
I agreed to do this course and was under the impression that I would be contacted about this but havent heard a thing in weeks - Can anyone advise what I should do? I'm not sure if I was given any contact details but I certainly have paperwork telling me to expect to be contacted by the relevant agency...?

I was in court yesterday and opted for the course, they said the course provider should contact me but if I don't hear to chase the provider up myself
 
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