Should you get the sack if you get caught drink driving regardless of whether or not you are in the public eye?
However unforgivable it is to drink and drive, it has nothing to do with your job.

No . . . unless driving is your job.

It's the public bit that creates a difference.

If you are in a job that helps to mould attitudes, especially of younger people, then they have a responsibility to be seen doing the right thing all the time.

If you know that you will lose your job if you cannot drive to work, then why bother to drink and drive? Seriously. People need to take responsibility for their actions.

I think our company has that policy, although I dont know if it has ever been enforced.

Ok then, if you get caught speeding should you also lose your job?

What's the difference?

Or driving without due care and attention . . .

If you were caught drink-driving on the way to work then that would open up the reasonable supposition that you would be drunk at work. Very sackable.

Your employers insurance covers you when youre on your way to or from work, so yup you could be sacked

I think there is a big difference between drink driving and speeding.

You must be completely retarded if you drink and drive.

Zero tolerance..thats whats needed. If ya get caught you lose ur licence for good, no exceptions. Same goes for excessive speeding.

I agree. There is no excuse for drink driving. I know people who do it all the time and can't see the problem.

This isn't Harriet Harman in disguise is it?

Depends on your Job

A woman police officer who played a part in a road safety TV advertisement had to be edited out after she was caught drink driving.
Last week, Constable Geraldine Donnelly pleaded guilty to the offence. She was fined £120 and banned for 12 months.

The 30-year-old PSNI officer's role in the ad for the Christmas season had to be cut out - at a cost of £9,000.

The advertisement carried the tag line: "You'll Get Smashed If You Drive on Drugs".

It is part of a PSNI/DoE road safety series.

The BBC News website obtained information about the cost of the re-edit from internal PSNI correspondence requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

Constable Donnelly, who appeared at Bangor Magistrates Court on Wednesday 23 May, had 140mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood. The legal limit is 80mg.

The court heard how she had been involved in a collision with another car on the County Down town's Gransha Road in January 2005.

The advert in which she appeared, and for which she provided a voice-over, had to be reworked by advertising agency Lyle Bailie to be used in the run-up to Christmas last year.

Constable Donnelly's conviction comes just months after the PSNI recorded its worst ever year for drink-driving - 2006 saw 22 officers charged and convicted of the offence.

Previously 2002 had been the worst year for drink-driving among PSNI officers when 15 officers were found guilty of being over the limit behind the wheel.

Constable Donnelly will now be subject to internal PSNI disciplinary proceedings which can include dismissal.

A PSNI spokeswoman declined to comment.

I think drink driving is very stupid but unless having a driving licence is a requirement of the job or the offence itself took place somehow in a work context, no, I don't think someone should be sacked.

It's not my employer's business what I do outside working hours if it doesn't affect my work, and it doesn't help anyone to have another unemployed person on the streets. If the fine/imprisonment would be inadequate without the person losing their job, then it should have been tougher in the first place.

I don't think "being in the public eye" is enough to justify being sacked either.

Where does this question come from?