Chalky1989

Best advice is to ask HR in your chose force. It can't hurt to put it on, being caught speeding once isn't likely to make or break your application. If you don't put it on when you should have, they'll see that as dishonest which is a big red flag. If you're open about it and declare it, you're showing honesty, a trait they want.

You can always try, and you would disclose your previous history. And you could try and show how you've become more responsible since then, assuming you have. A conviction in itself will not stop you joining but they'll likely want to be sure that you're not going to make the same mistakes. As there will be similarly qualified people going for the role who will in all likelihood have no previous convictions.

I'm a relatively recent starter, one thing you'll notice if you join is that a lot of the old guard miss the way the job used to be, which is why they'll tell you not to join. However, you, like me, will have no experience of that, so don't let it influence you. There are rubbish parts to the job, boring parts, and it can be stressful and dangerous. But it's also great fun, it's a job with a lot of freedom to do things your way within reason. I don't care how things used to be, the fact that the pay isn't amazing doesn't matter as I didn't take a pay cut from my old job to join anyway. The pension isn't as good as it was but it's still a good pension scheme. There's definitely annoying parts to the job where you'll be left wondering why you have to crime a load of nonsense, or when you spend half a shift or more dealing with a mental health job, but so far that's quite seriously outweighed by the good parts of the job. The shifts take some getting used to, and the social side too, but even if it makes it harder to keep up appearances, you'll make great friends on your shift. It certainly hasn't bothered me.

First arrest wasn't that interesting. Second arrest managed to recover a brand new iPhone X after finding the suspect on a roof, had him kick off when searched in custody, then kicked off when we saw him removing drugs from his arse later(he was further arrested for this) and piled into his cell, then was allowed to go for a piss and then kicked off and blocked himself in, and got sprayed and dragged back into his cell. Was quite the eventful evening.

If it's anything like the regular PC medical (I'm assuming you're at Durham based on previous interactions), they will do your hearing tests, lung capacity tests, take a hair sample for drug testing with a nurse, then you'll see the doctor who will go through your paperwork and discuss anything that comes up (I had some issues in the past but was able to demonstrate that they were no longer issues medically). They had to text my flexibility and movement to check that was all ok.

You'll be fine. Anyone who regularly does any sort of physical exercise should be fine. Even then if you're struggling, all you have to do is hang on in there till you reach 5.4. It's as much mental as it is physical.

Never had that happen to anyone I know, but 1 person did drop out of my intake for my force, so it's not unheard of for spaces to be made available.

Nobody can tell you for sure, but as long as you've declared it you've given yourself the best chance. Best case, they'll overlook it as it was 10 years ago. Potentially you might fail but but allowed to to appeal to make your case. Potentially they might invite you in for a vetting hearing of sorts and ask you to explain the circumstances, before making their decision. Yes, worst case is they don't pass you and don't consider any appeals. However I'm also of the opinion that they should have told you at the start if that was going to be an issue. My only issue was a speeding ticket nearly 2 years ago. I declared it, nothing was said, and it'll have showed honesty so I'm not worried. Whether they'll fail people at paper sift for things like that I don't know.

Fair one. There were a few on ours that wanted to go further. We did one at the end of training and were encouraged to go as far as possible.

We went only to 5.4 mate. They'll likely encourage you once you hit 5.3 to just give it a full on sprint back because if you miss the last beep you can't catch up anymore.

While it's all worked out, I'd still say, if you do receive any penalty points in the future just be open and upfront about it. You'll most likely not get refused for a few penalty points, it'd be the failure to disclose that would get you. I got 3 points just under 2 years ago, didn't cause any issues for me.

That's not bad. Though when I got in this time I couldn't wait to hand my notice in and get started!

Nice one! Do you know when you'll be starting? Pending the vetting/medical stuff?

Firstly, remember this place isn't for proper legal advice, for that you'll want to speak to a lawyer. So what I'll say is just my opinion/perspective. I'd imagine you'd almost certainly get the 6 points. No Insurance/Invalid Insurance is pretty much an absolute offence. You'll likely get a fixed penalty notice through the door soon and it will give you a conditional offer which will probably be something like 6 points and a fine (maybe around £200). You have the option to pay it, or take it to court where you could appeal that or argue against it. But as you yourself are saying you didn't have insurance I'd not be hopeful.

No problem! Also, don't be afraid to show your personality. They're wanting to see what you're like. If you've got an interesting story behind the answer to a question, don't be afraid to share it as long as it's appropriate. What they don't want is a robot who knows all the facts and rules and has no personality.