Anyone else on here hearing alarm bells at the news that the CSA (or whatever it calls itself nowdays) is to be granted the power to take away passports and driving licences without a court sanction. Surely it's the thin end of a dangerous wedge to hand out powers previously held by the courts to outside agencies. They are saying this power will only be used as a last resort ... but we've heard that one before.
I'm certainly in favour of absent fathers (and mothers) having to support their kids, but this seems a step too far. After all, even a terrorist gets to keep his/her passport and driving licence until a court takes them away, and given the total ineptitude and shambolic way the CSA has been run since it's inception it seems to me to be a bit like giving a monkey a gun.
This question isn't about the rights and wrongs of child support and parental responsibilities ... it's about the concern I think we should all have about who has power over us and what they can and can't do to us. Personally I don't feel that some jumped up college graduate in an office should have the power to destroy a persons life (in the case of taking a driving licence) without first having to prove to a court or magistrate that all else has been tried and no other options are left.
What next .. traffic wardens having the power to enter your house by force for your car keys? Councils being given the power to evict without having to give a reason.? Once these sort of powers are granted to one body there must be a danger of other organisations clamouring for more power. I simply think it's a dangerous precedent and wondered what others think.
I'm certainly in favour of absent fathers (and mothers) having to support their kids, but this seems a step too far. After all, even a terrorist gets to keep his/her passport and driving licence until a court takes them away, and given the total ineptitude and shambolic way the CSA has been run since it's inception it seems to me to be a bit like giving a monkey a gun.
This question isn't about the rights and wrongs of child support and parental responsibilities ... it's about the concern I think we should all have about who has power over us and what they can and can't do to us. Personally I don't feel that some jumped up college graduate in an office should have the power to destroy a persons life (in the case of taking a driving licence) without first having to prove to a court or magistrate that all else has been tried and no other options are left.
What next .. traffic wardens having the power to enter your house by force for your car keys? Councils being given the power to evict without having to give a reason.? Once these sort of powers are granted to one body there must be a danger of other organisations clamouring for more power. I simply think it's a dangerous precedent and wondered what others think.