When considering spent conviction orders for offences committed in the course of safety-related occupations such as electrical work, the court must give substantial weight to the public interest in employers and clients being aware of convictions, and the existence of a separate disciplinary regime does not justify a spent conviction order. The discretionary power to order a spent conviction is of an exceptional character and the potential for licence revocation by a regulatory board is not a sufficient exceptional circumstance where the board's disciplinary process operates independently of whether a conviction is recorded.
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