Lawrence and Bennett Convicted of drink driving

[BriggRam]

When I was in the army one of the lads favorite sayings was "if you can't drink and do your job.... don't do your job" I thought that was something for a laugh lads said 30 years ago, seems Derby County have took it on board since the start of this season 

[Gritstone Ram]

After reviewing all the evidence it is quite obvious they can’t take  their ale. 

I am offering them a crash course in beer drinking. I can get them up to speed. I could manage to stay out on a Saturday night till 2 am and make it for a 13:00 kick off on a Sunday.

I have an array of trophies and top scorer medals to prove it can be done. It never did me any harm. Then after the game have a chip buttie and swill it down with a few more pints.

[Rambam]

Warm people who look after you. Doesn’t include stopping you from drinking so much you vomit or organising taxis for the paralytic, apparently. 

[Steve How Hard?]

5 minutes ago, Rambam said:

Warm people who look after you. Doesn’t include stopping you from drinking so much you vomit or organising taxis for the paralytic, apparently. 

Is that Bradley Johnson in the middle? He doesn't look as pissed as MB. Even managed to pull too by the looks of it.

[Kinder]

1 hour ago, Rambam said:

Warm people who look after you. Doesn’t include stopping you from drinking so much you vomit or organising taxis for the paralytic, apparently. 

How many of us would be brave enough to confront a group of pissed up professional footballers and tell them they can’t drive home?  We’re seriously clutching at straws if we’re trying to blame the bar staff.

[Chester40]

Presumably insurance would normally cover Keogh's wages....so would him knowingly get in a car with a drunk driver negate that? Us paying him to sit on his backside for 9months would seriously annoy me. 

 

 

[Rambam]

17 minutes ago, Kinder said:

How many of us would be brave enough to confront a group of pissed up professional footballers and tell them they can’t drive home?  We’re seriously clutching at straws if we’re trying to blame the bar staff.

Funnily enough I would be more worried they were going to kill someone else. Like anyone driving past the Quorndon turn off when two drunken drivers emerged simultaneously , for example. 

[TomBustler1884]

8 hours ago, Van Cone De Head said:

All the good stuff the club does via the community trust and everything else completely overlooked because of this.

So I was at the Derby County Community Trust Awards Evening last night. If ever there was an event to restore faith in DCFC and the positive impact football can have on this city it was that one.

Mel, Stephen Pearce and Curtis Davies were there. I spoke to Mel and he just seemed really, really disappointed. Hes a passionate guy and I thought he would be fuming, but I think hes just gutted that hes been let down.

From his perspective, it's happened now, the club will deal with it and move on, but we both agreed that perhaps now everyone can give Cocu time and space to restart this team.

He also said a few words at the start, apologising to everyone for the last 48 hrs, saying that "we have let you down". It was quite emotional to be honest, he seemed a bit choked up.

I didnt speak to Curtis, what's he going to say, didnt think it was fair.

If you're feeling low about DCFC, get yourself on the DCCT website. This club makes a huge difference to people's lives.

[Kinder]

7 minutes ago, Rambam said:

Funnily enough I would be more worried they were going to kill someone else. Like anyone driving past the Quorndon turn off when two drunken drivers emerged simultaneously , for example. 

Totally agree mate but it would take some balls to take them on. Bar staff tend to be fairly young and footballers tend to be fairly confident / arrogant, even without a skinful inside them. It would have been the right thing to to try to take their keys off them but it would have been brave to try.  Point is they’re not the dheads who got behind the wheel.

[admira]

Having listened to Cocu’s interview, he does seem to suggest that the ‘small group’ was more than just these three. 

Once the team is announced on Saturday,  anyone mysteriously missing might be these other players. 

[Andrew3000]

[Justa]

7 hours ago, JfR said:

To be fair, choosing between playing someone who got arrested for getting bladdered, crashing their car and injuring the club's captain four days prior to the game or playing Jozefzoon is a tougher decision than it should be

Brilliant !!! Thanks for cheering me up this morning !

[Mostyn6]

8 hours ago, goldstar said:

Couldn't agree more. Give his place to a hardworking lad who appreciates the opportunity. There's us all rooting for the working class local boy. Muppet.

Are you saying Bennett isn't a hardworking lad who appreciates the opportunity? Nonsense, being that and also being a (beered-up) moron aren't mutually exclusive. The working class local boy in him would be part of the reason he thinks drinking lagers til you can't walk (or drive) is normal.

7 hours ago, bimmerman said:

Saunders was supposed to get 8 weeks or something wasn't he? 

I reckon that Mason may benifit from some time at her majesty's pleasure more then community service in the long run, could be the making of him instead of just being a waster 

Saunders was jailed as an example for being arrogant and unrepentant. In Bennett's case, we don't know his level of remorse yet, but your average member of the public won't go down for a first Drink-Driving offence, just get a ban, so why should Bennett get banged up?

[bimmerman]

4 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said:

Saunders was jailed as an example for being arrogant and unrepentant. In Bennett's case, we don't know his level of remorse yet, but your average member of the public won't go down for a first Drink-Driving offence, just get a ban, so why should Bennett get banged up?

Not necessarily true, would depend on mitigating factors, ie breath sample, racing on a public highway, speed in a limited area, location in relation to housing, time of day and conditions etc. I'd hazard a guess if Joe public had all of these they'd do a small stretch. 

[therealhantsram]

7 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said:

Are you saying Bennett isn't a hardworking lad who appreciates the opportunity? Nonsense, being that and also being a (beered-up) moron aren't mutually exclusive. The working class local boy in him would be part of the reason he thinks drinking lagers til you can't walk (or drive) is normal.

Saunders was jailed as an example for being arrogant and unrepentant. In Bennett's case, we don't know his level of remorse yet, but your average member of the public won't go down for a first Drink-Driving offence, just get a ban, so why should Bennett get banged up?

Normally you're right. But two additional things count against Mason. 

Firstly, these guys are in the public eye, and rightly or wrongly sentences are often tougher on these people as judges say they want to make an example of them to deter others. 

Secondly the video, the vomit, Mason saying clearly that he's drunk more than three pints, then video of him drinking another pint. His options for a mitigating argument are very, very limited. 

I think there might be a real risk for him. 

[rynny]

2 hours ago, Rambam said:

Warm people who look after you. Doesn’t include stopping you from drinking so much you vomit or organising taxis for the paralytic, apparently. 

It isn't the job of the bar staff to stop people from driving.

How would they even know that someone was planning in driving? 

They shouldn't be serving someone who is drunk but if someone else buys them a drink, then there isn't a lot they can do. 

[angieram]

35 minutes ago, TomBustler1884 said:

So I was at the Derby County Community Trust Awards Evening last night. If ever there was an event to restore faith in DCFC and the positive impact football can have on this city it was that one.

Mel, Stephen Pearce and Curtis Davies were there. I spoke to Mel and he just seemed really, really disappointed. Hes a passionate guy and I thought he would be fuming, but I think hes just gutted that hes been let down.

From his perspective, it's happened now, the club will deal with it and move on, but we both agreed that perhaps now everyone can give Cocu time and space to restart this team.

He also said a few words at the start, apologising to everyone for the last 48 hrs, saying that "we have let you down". It was quite emotional to be honest, he seemed a bit choked up.

I didnt speak to Curtis, what's he going to say, didnt think it was fair.

If you're feeling low about DCFC, get yourself on the DCCT website. This club makes a huge difference to people's lives.

Tom, I totally agree and thanks for sharing Mel's words. DCCT do wonderful things right across the community and are a pleasure to work with. 

To see their inspirational tweets on my timeline last night intermingled with those video clips was really upsetting. 

We need to keep faith in our club, they will be as disgusted with all this as we are. 

[TomBustler1884]

Just now, angieram said:

Tom, I totally agree and thanks for sharing Mel's words. DCCT do wonderful things right across the community and are a pleasure to work with. 

To see their inspirational tweets on my timeline last night intermingled with those video clips was really upsetting. 

We need to keep faith in our club, they will be as disgusted with all this as we are. 

Having spoken to a few staff members at the club at all levels, I can say with certainty they're absolutely livid with the players.

[RamNut]

I think the club statement was a bit soft. It didn't condemn the actions of the players. And then bleated on about supporting them back into the team. Can this club not see when it needs to get rid?

[Mostyn6]

14 minutes ago, therealhantsram said:

Normally you're right. But two additional things count against Mason. 

Firstly, these guys are in the public eye, and rightly or wrongly sentences are often tougher on these people as judges say they want to make an example of them to deter others. 

Secondly the video, the vomit, Mason saying clearly that he's drunk more than three pints, then video of him drinking another pint. His options for a mitigating argument are very, very limited. 

I think there might be a real risk for him. 

Video would be as good as inadmissable in court. Could have been filmed on any day, there's no proof it was filmed that day and the court would have to prove it.