If you have tears, prepare to shed them now

Journalist Alexander Chancellor explains to Daily Mail readers why the treatment of drunk drivers like himself is viciously oppressive:

I am not trying to defend drinkdriving when I tentatively suggest that the punishment is often disproportionate to the offence. It is right that an offender should lose his licence for a time, however severe the inconvenience caused; but the price paid for failing a breath test far exceeds that prescribed by the law.

The cost of car insurance, if it's granted at all, goes sky-high; it is impossible to rent a car; it may be hard to get a job; and, scandalously in my view, it costs more to re-apply for a driving licence if you've lost it for drink-driving than for any other reason.

Surely the cost of a routine bureaucratic transaction should be the same for everyone? In my case, there was an additional penalty: the Northamptonshire police, alerted by their colleagues in Buckinghamshire to my offence, decided to take away my shotgun licence.