GMG Buying a new (used) car during lockdown. Trying to help a family member buy a car and having to do it without viewing 
Pfft, I used to spend Ā£1000 every year on a ānewā car with a 12 month ticket.
Rarely ever test drove them, bought one without even seeing it before it was dropped off and cash was handed over.
I would still be doing it now, but about 5 years ago I found it went from genuine people selling, to people out looking for a quick buck and selling dangerous pooboxes.
Spending all morning writing my arguments for closing submissions at 3pm, barely slept, log into court at 3, ready to just get on with it, only to be told, at quarter past 3, that judge isnāt ready, dial back in at ten to 4.
GET ON WITH IT!
I had an email at 23:45 last night from the CPS asking for additional documents for a sentencing hearing this morning.
He pleaded guilty in November and they only just thought of things they urgently needed. Oh and they still donāt get that we canāt add things to the electronic casefile while itās with them! 
Was it a committal for sentence by any chance? If so, I know whyā¦
Yep, sent up from the Mags followings a Guilty plea 8 weeks ago.
Yeah, thereās the issue.
So, in the local CPS areas for me, there is no CPS lawyer allocated to the Committals for sentence. They are all chucked in a paralegals caseload, along with all of the other committals for sentence, appeals against sentence and appeals against conviction.
Thatās actually a massive caseload, so, they are all farmed out to independent counsel. Who are usually only briefed the day, or a few before.
We then open the brief, which hasnāt even been seen by a reviewing lawyer since before the mags hearing, and have to work out if itās ready to go, we often find thereās something awry, so have to email the CPS for that item, usually the night before or morning of the hearing. Itās then picked up by a paralegal, again, and forwarded to the police.
Itās all a symptom of the fact the CPS has no resources, they simply do not have the capacity to review all of their cases. When we encounter an appeal or C4S which needs an actual lawyers attention we usually have to fight for the privilege.
Then, most of the time we get to court, without what we need, so we end up adjourning, or fudging it.
The other day, on an appeal against sentence I genuinely got to court, before the judge, not knowing what the guy had done. I knew the charge, I knew the sentence, I just didnāt have any facts.
In the end, we just asked the defendant what heād done, he had no other record, so was relatively trustworthy and as soon as he relates the circumstances, which I cannot gainsay, we realise that he was sentenced for careless driving as if he was a professional driver, not someone driving as part of their job.
Distinction being āpaid as a delivery driverā as opposed to āpaid as a chippy who was driving to a job siteā?
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The problem is that cases like this have already been reviewed by 2 separate CPS lawyers, one who made the charging decision and one who prosecuted the case in the Magistrates, surely they should be picking up on things like this? Although the propensity for CPS to ask for things that they already have probably answers my own question about how closely they actually look at files.
Oh and DG6 is already grinding my gears!
Kinda, a delivery driver probably isnāt at the same level still, this was a distinction between someone like a HGV or someone carrying passengers for reward, and someone car sharing to work.
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Yes, those lawyers have, but often the issue is something the defendant raises at the mags court, like a basis of plea. The mags should really be hearing the facts before committing, but more often we have to do the Newton at the Crown because the mags arenāt doing their job properly.
GMGā¦ Ultilearn
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I donāt know managed to complete my Annual fire training earlier today in ~ 5 mins worked perfectly no issues.
Must be a PICNIC error 
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Be quiet
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Is there a new one out or still 2020?
New 2021 version of the course ( no content change but allows for the new year completion)
Not currently synced with SMS, that work will be done next week but itās online and available to do via Ultilearn.
Iām currently working on reporting for the wing and using UL reports for the courses done on there as otherwise itās a manual review of all 250 staff and Iāve not got time for that!!
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Iām gonna wait 2 months then, that way all the bugs will be worked out.
No point releasing these things until they are.
Last time I did a course day 1. Didnt register with SMS, had to repeat it 5 or so times.
Pray for the day we get the new LMS.
No courses register with SMS.
Every time some loads the e-learning page on your sms record it asks for the courses details for you UL record, itās why it takes so long to load that page.
Once this course is added to the query viola it shall be on SMS.
Like I said Iām currently doing reporting for the wing and using UL reports and itās therefore included.
Equally, no point doing it until your current 12 month currency expires
Course has been linked to SMS now. 
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