The number of immigrants attending alcohol education courses after being convicted of drink-driving has rocketed, a Telford-based company revealed today.
Telford Training Company said that, in just one instance, 15 convicted drink-drivers on a course run in the town included four foreign people. Company director Jenny Wynn said: “This is clearly a disproportionate number of immigrants appearing on a course.
“It is a situation which is increasingly being mirrored in many of our course areas.”
The TTC group, based at Hadley Park, educates more than 10,000 drink-drivers each year and also runs courses for motorists caught speeding or driving without due care.
It organises 850 courses a year with a view to reducing re-offending rates nationwide.
Drivers who volunteer to attend drink-drive rehabilitation courses after being sentenced by magistrates can have their driving bans reduced by up to a quarter.
A company spokesman said that 120 eastern European drivers who appeared before magistrates in TTC court areas in June 2007 made up more than 10 per cent of all referrals to its courses.
Ron Cope, TTC trainer, said there were three Polish people on his last course who had to use an interpreter.
“I’m having to speak more slowly to ensure that the interpreter understands but everyone else on the course is very patient and tolerant,” he said.
“I did ask them to take the work books home and fill in a questionnaire to show the amount they had learned. I was absolutely delighted to see that on the next day of the course I checked their answers and they had scored better than other people.”
The TTC spokesman said that almost a quarter of drink-drivers referred to its courses in one month were in the high risk offender category.
By Simon Hardy
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