DON`T DRINK IN MY HIGH STREET; TRY THE ONE NEXT DOOR

 15. Apr. 2010. – 15:45:50

If a driving instructor told you that for safety`s sake you should drive with the handbrake on you would correctly question his/her ability to do the job of instruction but if you were told that is the law you would probably seek the nearest bucket of water and into it place your head.

A few years ago the government removed the licensing of pubs from Magistrates` Courts to local councils. At the same time the limit on drinking hours was abolished which has led perhaps to eighteen hours a day opening if not the twenty four license predicted. Despite many warnings from magistrates, police, doctors and others of almost certain disastrous consequences the matter went ahead. We know now to all our costs that a twenty four hour cafe culture so beloved of sweet talking politicians was a chimera. Perhaps in twenty years Britons and especially those under twenty five years old might learn to drink in moderation on weekends but that does nothing for those whose local high streets are virtually no go areas after 9.00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

And lo! it was 2001 when "controlled drinking zones" were established. Once a control zone is in place, police or PCSOs can seize alcohol from anyone who is not on licensed premises, even if the bottles or cans are unopened. Although drinking is not banned in the zones, police can ask anyone to stop drinking and it is an offence to refuse, punishable by a maximum £500 fine. No explanation or suspicion that the person could be a public nuisance is required. The highest fine is £2,500. The law made clear that the zones should cover only streets or city centre areas with a record of alcohol-related disorder or nuisance. 

In a small town with a single high street a CDZ might offer a significant improvement to residents but in a large city the likely displacement of the drinking to a nearby area should have shown the impracticality of such measures.

Camden Council in north London has on its website, "The CDZ is aimed at those involved in anti-social behaviour, and does not mean that anybody with an alcohol container will have it confiscated."

This week the Council of the London Borough of Barnet which borders the London boroughs of Camden and Brent announced its latest CDZ. Councillors approved a proposal to introduce a controlled drinking zone around Cricklewood Broadway, Cricklewood Lane and Hendon Way after hearing evidence from the police that nuisance drinkers assembling in the area came from Brent and Camden. 

Is this not truly akin to driving with the handbrake on? Let the plebs drink all of the day and all of the night [with apologies to the Kinks] then sweep them off the streets from one borough to the boroughs next door. And they are asking for our vote for more of this. Soon they`ll be telling us they can make the trains run on time. Does that sound better in Italian?