Glasgow declares war on culture of excess drinking

A “ZERO tolerance” crackdown on alcohol abuse has been launched in Glasgow that will see nightclubs run sobering chill-out hours before closing and the introduction of a special bus in which drunks can sleep off a binge.

In a pioneering multi-strand attempt to tackle the city’s twisted relationship with the bottle, Strathclyde Police and Glasgow City Council will also crack down on shops selling alcohol to the underage, pubs who serve drunks and the unlicensed “dial-a-booze” services that deliver alcohol around the clock with no heed to the age or drunkenness of customers.

Yesterday, the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police Stephen House said Glasgow had a “worse” relationship to alcohol than other UK cities and that in Strathclyde people drank in a more “determined” manner than elsewhere in the country.

The chief constable said one of the consequences was a murder rate almost three times higher than London, while Gordon Matheson, leader of Glasgow City Council said alcohol abuse cost the city almost £400 million per year.

Under the new Joint Action Group on Alcohol, the police and council will work closely with the Procurator Fiscal Service, Glasgow Housing Association, Glasgow Community and Safety Services and Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service to promote a united front against the problems of alcohol abuse.

Mr House said: “When we sat down to begin our work two months ago, we said that we wanted to find measures that were practical, enforceable and would make a real difference to people in our communities. I believe we have done just that.”

The chief constable said the force dealt with between 30 and 40 incidents of serious violence over the weekend. He said about 75 per cent of those would have been alcohol-related.

Asked about his views on Glasgow’s attitude to drinking compared to other cities, he replied: “It feels worse to me. It may be a factor of the city centre in Glasgow, it is a relatively compact city centre, but across the whole of the Strathclyde area the drinking feels that bit more determined and it can lead to violence.”

Among the new measures will be police in plainclothes on late-night weekend bus and train routes to identify underage drinkers, who will then be taken home.

Several city-centre premises will introduce a “chill-out hour”, staying open after 3am to sell hot food and soft drinks to allow people to become re-hydrated and reduce queues at taxi ranks and fast-food outlets.

An SOS single-decker bus will now operate in the city centre, which will act as a meeting point for lost people and temporary accommodation for drunks.

The bus will provide first aid and will be staffed by the Street Pastors, who will provide pastoral care to those in need. A similar bus has already been found to be successful in Liverpool.

The task force will also be tackling the rise in “dial-a-booze” services such as those advertised on Facebook, where alcohol is delivered to a private address for a fee of £5. These services are illegal as they advertise a 24-hour service. Anyone selling alcohol must have a licence and must adhere to proper licensing hours.

One company on Facebook declared: “24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In a state of emergency!? Don’t panic, Dial A booze Glasgow are here to help!”.

Under the new initiatives there will be a strict crackdown on both underage drinkers and those who associate with them.

Children who may not be drinking themselves, but who are caught in the company of underage drinkers on three occasions will be reported to the Social Work Department. In 2010 there were 1,318 alcohol related offenders under 16 years old.

There will also be a major increase in test purchase operations, in which an underage person, acting under the supervision of the Alcohol Task Force, attempts to buy alcohol in both off-sales and pubs and clubs.

The strict enforcement will begin on 1 October, so the action group said people have a month to “change their ways”.

In 2010 a total of 1,066 people were found drunk and incapable in Glasgow, with many of them repeat offenders and regular visitors to police cells and hospital accident and emergency rooms.

Yesterday, Gordon Matheson, the leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “People who cause booze-fuelled misery in our communities must change their ways and they must be made to pay for their actions.

“The new measures announced today are designed to show we are serious about tackling Glasgow’s drink problem.

“I’m determined to stand up for the decent communities of Glasgow. I’m fed-up, and the decent majority in Glasgow are sick of the negative social implications of people abusing booze. It’s not on. We’re not having it and we’re going to clamp down on it.”