Petition – in the House of Commons at 9:59 pm on 28 February 2001.
Mr Howard Flight
Conservative, Arundel and South Downs
I rise to present a petition on behalf of my constituent, Mrs. Vivien Sumner of Pulborough. It relates to the tragic death of one person, and the severe injury of another arising from a drunken driving incident. The drunken driver was sentenccd to seven years in jail, with a five-year suspension to run concurrently. It seems nonsense to have concurrency for the suspension of licences and prison sentences because it results in a less effective ban on driving.
The petition states
Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your Honourable House urge the Secretary of State for the Home Department to bring forward measures which will ensure that any driving ban imposed on persons convicted of drink driving does not begin until their full sentence at conviction is spent irrespective of any shortened sentence.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
