Taxi Driver Online

24-hour drinking 'leaves police dangerously stretched,' warns assistant chief constable
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... table.html

The introduction of 24-hour drinking has backfired as alcohol-fuelled disorder in cities now persists throughout the night leaving police dangerously stretched, an assistant chief constable has warned.


Garry Shewan, of Greater Manchester Police (GMP), called for the legislation to be reversed.

He also warned of the "real risks" associated with recession-busting all-you-can drink "Carnage" nights and cheap alcohol in supermarkets that people buy to get drunk before going out.

His comments came shortly after 19-year-old student Philip Laing was brought before the courts for urinating on a war memorial during a Carnage pub crawl organised by Varsity Leisure Group.

Last month, Gordon Brown admitted the 24-hour rule had not worked and said he always had his doubts about the legislation, which his predecessor Tony Blair introduced in 2005.

Mr Shewan said that far from creating the European café culture that was intended, the change in the law had simply allowed people to stay at home drinking later before going out.

"The difficulty is they are coming in already drunk. The sale of cheap alcohol is a real concern for our young people," he told delegates at the opening of the first police conference in Britain aimed specifically at tackling alcohol-fuelled night-time violence.

The one-day event, held in Manchester, has brought together 10 forces, including officers from GMP, Liverpool, Southampton, Cardiff and the West Midlands, to share initiatives and discuss plans on tackling the problem.

"At a time of economic crisis we are seeing some operators trying to reduce prices, the 'Carnage' nights that are starting to take place across the country," Mr Shewan said.

He said "there are real risks" where licensed premises are offering £25 all-you-can-drink promotions.

However, he claimed police had got such promotion nights "under control" because any licensee who wants to hold one must employ more staff and work with local officers to control it.

"The extension of licensing hours, the Government thinking was, it will stop the 11pm or 2am rush," Mr Shewan added. "The reality is it's not stopped the rush and sometimes it has pushed the rush back.

"What used to be a late-night problem is sometimes in major cities extended to 16-18 hours and that clearly is a real risk. Bars and clubs are staying open much later and that puts a real strain on police resources.

"It would be far safer if the period of time people drink irresponsibly was reduced."

Mr Shewan said his force was seeking to tackle the problem on the streets by targeting "problem" pubs and clubs, replacing pint glasses with plastic ones and deploying taxi marshals to monitor queues.

"People in Manchester and other towns and cities across the UK want to be able to enjoy a night out in their town centre without the fear of violence," he said. "It is an issue that affects the life of people and the economy right across the country."

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

The only difference that the later opening times have had on trade around here is that instead of being busy from midnight to around 3.30 in the morning is that we are busy from 1.00 am till 4.30 in the morning. The pubs are empty until around 10.30 so they are taking no extra money but are having to pay more for their staff and we are taking no extra money.

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Grandad,

They were told when they introduced this 24 hour drinking that the Police would struggle to cover the work. Take last night for instance, I got stopped by a copper asking me if I'd seen 2 lads who had broken into some cars / sheds / garages? Now this area is a rabbit warren with alley ways and jitties all over the place, I pointed him in the direction of the best place to look for them and where to sit, his words were "I'm F***ED off with this job" he was the only copper on duty in that area, he said all the other coppers were tied up with idiots in the Town Centre.

24 hour drinking is no good.

I agree.

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IDFIMH

Well, here comes an admission of wrongness !


For years I longed for 24 hr licencing, mainly the idea in my head was I could along with other night workers and go for a couple of pints before bed.


The reality is that trade is now shot to bits and everyone wants to go home at the same time, they stay in these centre spots all night now and don't support the local pub, you now get the idiot that started at 4pm and is so drunk he can't work out why he has no money left and gets right annoyed when nobody wants his business, the clubs have decided they are now God among Gods and smash the punter to bits on admission and bar prices, the normal social working man no longer wants to be in that enviroment and gives the whole thing a miss, a complete horse up of what should've been a good idea, and guess why? because the Brits just do not know what self control and moderation is.

I'm hoping they turn it back around real soon tbh.

I think a lot of people thought that this was the way it would go. There are plenty of other night workers who thought they would be able to pop in for a pint on the way home.
Looks like we all got the wrong end of the stick.

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Grandad,

The irony of it all was that the working man never lobbied for the extra hours. It was never ever anything more than an opportunity for the Gov to raise extra tax and the brewers and supermarkets to make more profit.

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if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

There's not one pub that I know of that really uses the new 24 hour drinking licence anyway exept in the city center, outside the center any pubs or wine bars that wanted to stay open had the door shut in their face through restriction due to being in residential areas. Not that anyone's going out anyway though.

Overstretched?

Is that why I see them sitting outside all the main clubs and pubs in vans doing the sum-total of f**k-all?

Ive seen that happen here too...damn, I thought it was just an Isolated event

I think it varies from place to place, ours are always stretched and I believe it as well, it's not so much the arresting side of things, it's processing them after and before shift finishes that takes the time.

6 hours according to a copper mate of mine.