One For The Road - How I Lost My Job Through Drinking And Driving.
Created | Updated Feb 24, 2003
Shattered Dreams.
During the early part of June last year I was given a chance to undertake my dream job of running a public house. The papers were signed and I packed my bags and moved down south. I set up my belongings above the pub, washed and cleaned the place and very, very nervously opened up the next day.Although it was a little hard at first and very intimidating, I soon had a group of regulars and was turning a profit. I also made some very good friends who would sit with me above the pub after closing, and we would talk and laugh and play music until the sun rose.
I loved that job, and that part of my life with the people I met and the fun we had will remain in my heart as one of the best summers ever.
The reason I'm telling you this is because I want you to understand two things. The first is that I'm an ordinary guy, I like a drink or two and I watch football and I have alot of fun with my friends. I'm a normal, ordinary, Joe Public type guy!
The second thing I want you to know is how much it hurts that all this has gone and I may never get it back. All because I thought I was alright to drive.
That Night.
It was a Bank Holiday Monday so of course the pub was open. Two of my new friends had worked in pubs before so we decided around four o'clock that we would all be OK to have a drink provided no-one got really drunk and we would all cover for each other at the bar. We got through the night OK and come closing time we were all in good spirits. We retired upstairs with two bottles of Jack Daniels, a bottle of Jim Beam and what was left of the pubs Tequila. Between the four of us we managed to finish the lot and around 12.45am, one of the friends decided to call it a night because she had work the next day. Unfortunately she was the sensible one of the four of us and the last words she said to us were "You won't do anything silly will you?" We assured her we were staying right where we were to watch videos and then go to bed.I am in no way blaming anyone else for this incident, but I'm recounting it as I remember it and days after the incident she would say to me "If only I'd taken your car keys from you." You can probably guess from that exchange what's about to happen next. We ran out of cigarettes and being the only with a car, I volunteered to go and find a 24 hour garage. I don't recall anyone saying to me "Yes, you should go." or encouraging me to drive but I certainly don't remember anyone trying to stop me.
I jumped in the car and drove off looking for the garage, but I never got there. I was driving too fast, I skidded, mounted the kerb and wrapped the front end of my car around a lampost. I don't remember anything about the crash, why I crashed or anything afterwards up until being sat in the passenger seat of a patrol car, being read my rights.
They kept me in the cells for five hours after brethalysing me at the station. I read double the legal limit. In the morning they took my fingerprints and my statement and gave me a ride back to the pub. I hardly remember those procedures at all. I was numb and in shock. Not because of the crash but because I knew my time as landlord was over. I thought about how I was going to explain it to my parents. How much I had let them down. What I was going to do next.
The next few days were a blur. I opened the pub as usual but I was functioning on auto-pilot. Then I got a call from my employees to say they were letting someone else have the pub and they wouldn't be able to find me another place. I packed my stuff and moved out two weeks later. I moved back in with my parents and got a nine-to-five job.
Regrets.
A couple of months after it happened I was talking to someone about it, feeling sorry for myself because all my plans had gone wrong. They asked me one question. "What would have happened if you had hit somebody with the car?". This hit me like a slap in the face. Although I was moping about my current situation, what would have happened if I'd injured someone, or worse killed them? God only knows and I thank whoever's up there that I didn't do any more damage than I did. I'm alive and no-one else is dead. It's a wonder but that is the most important thing. I am filled with the utmost guilt and shame for what I have done and I'm now more aware of my family and friends drinking and driving. If I can stop it from happening again, maybe, just maybe that will atone for my mistake.Since that night I have often wondered where I would be now if it weren't for that one stupid mistake. I'll never know but it doesn't stop me from thinking it.
Alkland
