About To Lose My Job, Any Lawyers Around?

screwedback

Hey afternoon everyone, I'll try to keep this short but basically I work as a security guard with a Front Line SIA Door Supervisor Licence. 

In the summer of 2024 I had gone out for the work do and gotten drunk ended up buying some cocaine from somewhere in Soho London, ended up in some alleyway about to take a key and 6 officers jump out to arrest me, spent night in jail, taken to court, was sentenced a fine and a conditional discharge. 

My work is constantly getting us to get more licences and I did my CCTV licence before my arrest however me being lazy and mr.last minute I didn't send of my documents and of course in this time I had the whole incident above take place so when they did all the checks etc it has come up that I have a criminal record now and they intend to revoke my licence. 

The SIA have given me 21 days (now 13) to send them a personal statement via the website and some character references. My question is what do I write on this statement to give me the best chance of keeping my licence and my job? 

I don't actually drink or smoke maybe few times a year at best (summer & xmas party usually) aside from that I don't do anything, I stay home most of the time, never been arrested however I did have a phase of drinking a lot in past 3/4 years due to some issues personally I guess but idk if I should be writing about that?

Thank you!

SiliconChip

It's not permitted for anyone to give legal advice on here, if you want a lawyer you'll need to pay for one. Although I think you'd be wasting your money, it's clearly gross misconduct and it would have been perfectly reasonable (and correct in my opinion) for your employer to have fired you without notice.

pinkshoes

screwedback said:

Hey afternoon everyone, I'll try to keep this short but basically I work as a security guard with a Front Line SIA Door Supervisor Licence. 

In the summer of 2024 I had gone out for the work do and gotten drunk ended up buying some cocaine from somewhere in Soho London, ended up in some alleyway about to take a key and 6 officers jump out to arrest me, spent night in jail, taken to court, was sentenced a fine and a conditional discharge. 

My work is constantly getting us to get more licences and I did my CCTV licence before my arrest however me being lazy and mr.last minute I didn't send of my documents and of course in this time I had the whole incident above take place so when they did all the checks etc it has come up that I have a criminal record now and they intend to revoke my licence. 

The SIA have given me 21 days (now 13) to send them a personal statement via the website and some character references. My question is what do I write on this statement to give me the best chance of keeping my licence and my job? 

I don't actually drink or smoke maybe few times a year at best (summer & xmas party usually) aside from that I don't do anything, I stay home most of the time, never been arrested however I did have a phase of drinking a lot in past 3/4 years due to some issues personally I guess but idk if I should be writing about that?

Thank you!

So you do what they ask and send in a character reference.

Ultimately you have a criminal record and work in a job that probably needs a clean record, so it's likely you will lose your job. If this was last summer, what has been happening over the last 9 months??

If your job does require no criminal record then you better get looking for another job ASAP. If there is a chance that it won't matter, then hopefully a good character reference will help you keep your job. 

No legal advice on here, you will have to pay for that, but not sure how they will be able to help.

Ayr_Rage

You obviously failed to disclose the incident to your employer and they only found out at a later date through other checks.

I am surprised they did not dismiss you without notice when the incident came to light.

Provide the references and your own statement and keep your fingers crossed.

Mands

I don't actually drink or smoke maybe few times a year at best (summer & xmas party usually) aside from that I don't do anything, I stay home most of the time, never been arrested however I did have a phase of drinking a lot in past 3/4 years due to some issues personally I guess but idk if I should be writing about that?

I think saying you don't drink or smoke or do coke ... except occasionally when you do isn't going to help your case. 

Emmia

screwedback said:

Hey afternoon everyone, I'll try to keep this short but basically I work as a security guard with a Front Line SIA Door Supervisor Licence. 

In the summer of 2024 I had gone out for the work do and gotten drunk ended up buying some cocaine from somewhere in Soho London, ended up in some alleyway about to take a key and 6 officers jump out to arrest me, spent night in jail, taken to court, was sentenced a fine and a conditional discharge. 

My work is constantly getting us to get more licences and I did my CCTV licence before my arrest however me being lazy and mr.last minute I didn't send of my documents and of course in this time I had the whole incident above take place so when they did all the checks etc it has come up that I have a criminal record now and they intend to revoke my licence. 

The SIA have given me 21 days (now 13) to send them a personal statement via the website and some character references. My question is what do I write on this statement to give me the best chance of keeping my licence and my job? 

I don't actually drink or smoke maybe few times a year at best (summer & xmas party usually) aside from that I don't do anything, I stay home most of the time, never been arrested however I did have a phase of drinking a lot in past 3/4 years due to some issues personally I guess but idk if I should be writing about that?

Thank you!

The gov.uk page indicates you should have told your employer within 21 calendar days of the incident. As this was last summer, you're well outside that time limit.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/learn-about-the-sia-licence-conditions-you-must-follow

Savvy_Sue

IANAL but your only mitigation is that this was completely out of character, you rarely drink and your judgement was impaired by alcohol. Hopefully you have character references to support that.

Even so, I'd anticipate the need to job hunt.

DullGreyGuy

As already said, no one here can give you legal advice and even if they could taking advice from a random stranger online who claims to be a lawyer is not the best decision. 

You did something stupid, got caught and then double downed by failing to disclose. This feels like a tickbox exercise and it's unlikely there is much you can write to change the likely conclusion. 

Dont add more lies to the story... "I dont drink" is not true, you rarely drink. Smoking is a total irrelevance. You need to explain why both the event and the failure to disclosed happened, how it is out of character and what you have done since to ensure a repeat performance doesn't occur. 

What was the outcome of the arrest? An official warning? Court? You say you now have a criminal record so assume some form of punishment?

LeafGreen

My (non-legal) advice is that seeing as you only "partake" extremely occasionally, and when you do it seemingly can lead to serious/career ending actions, just knock the whole lot on the head, become entirely teetotal for drink and drugs. Be contrite, say you have come to a realisation that it is not good and you are now living clean.  
Given the seriousness of the situation, it may not be enough to keep your job but I will wish you luck in that regard.  Either way, the above is still very good advice you should consider.  There is a guy on youtube called Diaries of an Addict (not saying you are an addict, but obviously you do sometimes make bad decisions after a few drinks) who gives good advice an avoiding temptations.
All the best and I hope things work out well.