Ultimately people with that attitude are going to drink irrespective of policy so as with all blanket bans all they are doing is punishing the sensible and irritating the hell out of an already demoralised volunteer cadre that feels undervalued and disrespected.
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Its the comments of āone wont hurtā, āgo on Iāll pay for itā, āyou wonāt find it cheaper anywhere elseā, āare you sure you donāt want oneā - those are the ones which drag you down that they are there to pressure you, they genuinely think they are helping you to socialise or fit in with the team. And more often than not they are the ones you work well with during the day.
The big ones who comment on being the boring one, or the wierd one for leaving the bar early, or being told Iām miserable. These ones are who either misjudged their drinking, or donāt think it impacts them in the morning, and are actually far easier to handle and ignore than the top one.
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I can lay on my bed on my own or in a shared room and chillax but I can also go to the bar, the Starbucks in normally closed ay 21:30 and chill with the rest of the staff team and debrief the day. I donāt need a tall cold one to chill but it a nice way to do it.
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Honestly they should be smoking in the first place but teenagers will be teenagers but either waythis will definitely help
I refer back to my previous comment about staff retention!
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To a degree, they are in an unholy trap:
If they trust us to police this stuff ourselves, the ACO will be in the papers within the months because we all know people in our sectors /wings who simply donāt grasp moderation and discretion, or appropriateness.
On the other hand, ridiculous, proscriptive stuff that treats grown adults like 4yoās just destroys morale and goodwill and drops retention through the floor.
For me, the solution is doing less, reducing the burden on staff, and enabling us to be a bit more fussy about who we take - and providing far more staff training and then operating guidelines rather than relentless absolutes. This makes our people feel empowered and valued - and people who feel empowered, trained, supported and valued make better decisions than people who feel they are treated like witless children and who - to the surprise of none - play up when teachers back is turned.
Venture Adventure doesnāt just turn decent kids into better adults, it turns decent adults into better ones - how odd that the central ethos of the ACO has gone unnoticed by HQAC for the last decade and a halfā¦
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Really, I donāt recall us being the papers at any point in the last 20 years so I find that highly unlikely.
You are the Commandant and I claim my Ā£5
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Breaking news: man gets drunk
Our rules for SOVās state we can only operate them under a Section 19 Permit.
Section 19 Permit rules on Gov.uk state:
Driversā hours and tachographs
Small vehicles and minibuses used under a section 19 permit are exempt from having a tachograph fitted. Volunteer drivers are not subject to any driversā hours rules. Drivers who are employees of the permit holder are subject to domestic driversā hours rules.
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That doesnāt mean that we as an organisation canāt be more restrictive if we feel we need to in the interests of safety.
Iāve had this row with several in the AT world including a very good friend who wanted to drive home after a days activity. They couldnāt see how doing 8 hours of AT was not a good warm up for driving home from Wales. Now under the permit 19 scheme that wouldnāt be an issue, but under the common sense scheme Iād suggest that it is.
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Be careful of applying common senseā¦
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You cant be prosecuted for driving under the influence if your sample is -ve, however other offences are available.
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agreed but that isnāt what we were discussing.
you suggested someone could legally drive a D1 SOV despite having alcohol the night before.
I suggested there was/is a policy which indicated CFAVs are not to drink 12 hours prior to being on duty.
thus if following the policy by the letter, your example wouldnāt happen.
Depends how much is drunk the night before last orders really wouldbt make any difference, understand that beer may be cheaper which may tempt another pint. In my mind drinking coke the night before with little sleep would also be risky. Moderation is the key, quick punt and early night would be acceptable. I understand this may not work for all.
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No true, you can be prosecuted for driving whilst unfit. The test only applies to the prescribed limit. However, the unfit rule is much harder to prove.
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No i fint think it would.
Last orders at 2230 and last drop at 2300 means off duty until 1100 the next day.
12 hours is a long time to still have more than 5mg of alcohol present in the system if applying the 12 hours rule
Where are you getting this 12 hour rule from? If weāre going off of our policy, itās 8 hours:
CFAV shall not consume alcohol for a minimum of eight hours preceding participation in any activity, especially driving, with cadets.
But from the point being made, if I have a heavy enough night then I can easily still be over the limit 12 hours later 
Certainly wouldnāt be driving or seeing any cadets!
Really, where do you get your information from . Without the evidence you will not be prosecuted. So i am sticking to my statement unless you can produce another version. Unfortunately i was involved with an incident where driver blew +ve but was below when producing the evidence at not prosecuted, guess like FB people know better on here than the CPS
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The limit is 35, but the Home Office guidance is donāt prosecute below 40.
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