if he's referring to the whole population yes, but he's referring to the individual.

I was only referring to the individual. My words obviously mis understood but I can see how they could be twisted.

I would take it he is refering to the whole population in that context.

If you bumped into me and I was refering to you I would say "Bloody Englishman", if I said "Bloody English" that would be refering to the whole population.

No where in that comment "Bloody Polish" can you claim he is refering to one Polishman, he is generalizing on the whole country.

Now if you want to defend your friend, fair enough, but I can't see how on earth you can defend that comment.

Mrs Richt just said that her father, when moaning about something his child had done wrong would turn around and under his breath say "bloody kids".

Now, do we think that he's generalising about all children or just his daughter!?

I think Barry would be very angry if you accused him of being a bloody Engllishman!

Well if he had one child (a daughter) and he was saying "Bloody kids" I would suggest he go to the opticians to sort out his double vision.

Give it a rest Achilles.
Richt has acknowledged twice now that he did not word his original post that well and said it was easy to misconstrue.
Let's leave it at that.

That's a ten year-old's "joke".

going back to the actual subject of this thread.

Just heard from the MIL and the police also found some illegal substances in the van.......

Before every man and his dog plays the PC card on here, just let's consider what actually happened - someone could have been seriously hurt - and in the heat of the moment, a comment like this is easily said. If it would have been a fat bloke , youre probably going to call him a fat so and so, etc. If the Poles like a beer or two at the wheel, then we need to address this problem and not brush it under the carpet. Glad everyone is OK Rich

but our network of Welsh castles built by Edward I still survives ?

The fact that England was invaded is all down to Geography. If you want to use this argument, England did pretty well in return invading the rest of the world.

Further updates for those that are interested.

Driver was not insured - and the clause that MIL had in her insurance is irrelevant. I thought this was the case, but Mrs Richt thought otherwise.

MIL and SIL are both sort of in a case of shock, MIL whenever she shuts her eyes can see the headlights coming at her in her rear view mirror (in fairness, it was probably a good job she saw the van coming as she could brace herself for the collison, as opposed to looking elsewhere). SIL (who was following the van in her car) keeps having flash backs to when she got out of her car and was running towards MIL's thinking she could have been badly injured or worse).

Foreign gentleman driver has been arrested, and was found to be over the limit (no surprise there) and was working ona farm in the middle of nowhere, will lose his licence and his job (it appears the van is part of his work) he is most probably going to lose his home too as he was living in a caravan as part of his day job..

MIL is fortunate that the SIL was a witness and also in another car.
Both are shaken up but at least no one was physically hurt. What speed was the accident at?

Hopefully the flash backs will lessen with time, Rich, although she may need a little help counselling.

Should be a jail sentence really....although no doubt the fella will just get on the next plane back to Poland and start afresh. Just hope he's learnt his lesson.

SIL was doing about 10 mph but only because she was about to stop anyway. MIL was parked up (as you know)

SIL wasn't keeping up with the van but another witness claimed that the van was going a lot faster and the paramedic that came said that he must have been going at quite a speed due to the amount of damage to MIL's vehicle. (the force of the collision pushed MILs car onto a pavement and into a hedge. (MIL has gone through the "what if's" and thank god there were no kids or adults walking on the pavement.

they are both strong people, so hopefully they will be able to pull through quickly enough.

I agree on the jail sentence.

First off, we've moved on. Richt admitted that his comment could be misconstrued and, despite my misgivings about rashly lumping people together, that was that. But seriously:

"If the Poles like a beer or two at the wheel, then we need to address this problem and not brush it under the carpet."

Talk about generalisations!! I don't know whether to or .

Doc,

IF there is an issue with drink driving in a certain sector of our community then surely it DOES need to be addressed, e.g. with a targetted campaign?

If it was 'young people' rather than 'Poles' then that group would be targetted so why not Poles IF there is an issue????

My heartfelt sympathies to your MIL & SIL, Richt. As many here know, I was hit by a motorcyclist while driving in 2003 and it affected me deeply.

I, too, would get flashbacks of the impact when I closed my eyes. I think they continued for a month or more then gradually became less frequent. It truly was horrible, not just reliving the sight but the sound, too. I didn't seek any counselling but had one interview with a hospital psychiatrist, arranged by my solicitor to aid my compensation claim. Having to retell what happened and relive the day was extremely painful four, maybe five months after the event, but the doctor said some very supportive things during the interview which helped in rebuilding my confidence. If either of your loved ones is offered a consultation it might be of help to them, too?

Here's wishing them both a swift recovery - and an increased appreciation of being alive!

Thanks Flyman.

Sorry to read about your experience too

Better a or a than a

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-14817022

Nice to see a sensible approach is being adopted rather than a shush, it never happened stance.

Agreed, I'm all for focused campaigns but I'd rather have some evidence rather than comments like "if Poles like a beer or two at the wheel". Young drivers already have focused campaigns and they also, especially in the case of males, pay more for car insurance. It was just the apocryphal generalisation I didn't like.

bluenosey's link (after your original post) has some stats to prove the issue

Precisely. I'm not trying to hush anything up and the article shows that measures are already in place to counter the issue.

Great image though with the car apparently crashing into the beer. Very dramatic!

First time we have got to see the car as MIL lives about 80 miles away! She was so lucky. Horrible pic really. Surprised she got out with out any injuries

http://www.chardandilminsternews.co.uk/ ... on/?ref=mr

Who hasn't drinked and drived, huge amounts of people do it. Not that I agree with it, of course I don't although......

When I was 19 I went on the piss in town, had 8 pints, walked home got in the car to go to my gf's house....on the way I hit the curb on the dual carriageway at 50 mph, started swirving left then right my car came to a stop, I was so drunk I didn't really know what had happend and did not know why my car would not start. The clutch had gone...

I got out and the left front wheel was hanging off the axle, luckily for me it was late, no other cars around, my car had stopped perfectly in a 10metre long bit of central reservation which was the width of a car, this was the only bit of the 2 mile long carriageway which had an extra bit of tarmac to the right of the road, anywhere else I would have been bouncing off a barrier and my car would have been left in the middle of the road, immovable so I would have had no choice but to give myself up. My luck had not ended there......

I was able to walk/run half a mile to my gf's house and try to sober up with food and water, call a recovery vehicle, and wait until the driver phoned me to tell me he was waiting by my vehicle and then ran back down to my car.

As matey was loading my car onto the back of his lorry a police car came past, I had not seen one other car come past but a bleeding police car turns up just at the wrong time......he stops, winds down his window, asks me whats happend..I say I have had a crash, he says have you been drinking I say no, he winds up his window and drives off.

I have always wondered why he just drove off....

1. Maybe he thought 'he hasn't damaged anything, his cars getting moved so its all good'
2. He did not have a breathaliser with him.
3. I think he was on his own and I think you may need to ppl present to do a breath test
4. He could not be assed/was going home.
5. He thought I seemed sober enough.

I was lucky...........Don't drink and drive its not worth it!!! I have not done it since.

I think the coppers have bigger things to worry about.

A was a bit of a scrote in my younger days too.

Driving through Liverpool city centre side roads. Double parked cars. Van coming the other way.

I flashed him and reversed to a point where he could get past. He flashed me. I reversed a bit more to a point where he could get past. He flashed me again. I reversed to the junction of the street I'd entered.

Then I noticed it was a cop van....and I'd been driving the wrong way up a one way street.

The driver leaned out... "have you been drinking son?"......."no officer"...."fair enough"


of course....I was a little bit pissed as a fart......not proud, not boasting, but very, very lucky.

If you ever go down your local (I just assume its the same everywhere) many 'locals' drive to the pub, especially tradesmen that want a drink after work......loads of them drink and drive daily.

Some have been stopped by the police when they have left the pub and have said they had 5-6 pints but they someone passed the breath test

I think you have a 1-250 chance of getting caught everytime you do it, but I expect its more like 1-25000.