Police sitting on answer to drink-fuelled violence

Drinkers in Preston could be asked to remain seated in a bid to beat drink-fuelled violence.

Police and health officials in the Lancashire city say making people sit down to drink will combat the problems associated with 'vertical drinking'.

If people are sat down there is less potential for flash points than with vertical drinking ​ Sgt Andy Hobson, of Preston Police.

Sgt Andy Hobson, of Preston Police told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph: "It doesn't so much affect the amount they drink, it is the proximity of other people when you are stood up which is where the problems can start.​

"If people are sat down there is less potential for flash points than with vertical drinking.

"People go into these places and crowd round the bars, then the next thing you know somebody gets a push and the pint goes over and that is it.

"We're not saying this is going to work everywhere, but everywhere is different and it will work in some places."

To comment on this or any other story email us by clicking this link​

Your Comments​Ken Nason​via email, 31/07/2006How abosolutely incredible that supposed "intelligent" educated responsible people can come out with such twaddle.

Some will not be happy until this once great traditional institution is erased from our history. People have chosen to drink standing, sitting by the bar or the fire in pubs for hundreds of years.

"vertical drinking" was invented by the big boys to cram as many sheep into their under aged drinking supermarkets and has never had a place in the traditional pub.

Seems funny that we appear to be turning our pubs into social schools rather than socialising places.

Sounds a bit like a Victorian school: "sit down only drink two pints and don't make any noise or smoke." Funny that when the places where there should be dicipline, in schools and at home, are rife with ill mannered anti social behaviour.

The conspiracy theorists will of course be forgiven for accepting that this is all part of President Blairs plan for the wiping out of the British identity for integration into the European super state of which he really wnats to be president.

I couldn't possibly comment of course!

Robert Feal-Martinez​ via email, 31/07/2006Ken as always, being a senior Statesman of our industry, having been there, done it, got the tee shirt, and no doubt the video, unlike the great and good that try miserably to speak for us, tells it as it is. To put the flesh on his comments, only 23% of our inductry is in town centres the rest of us the massive 77% do not have a problem with customer jostling , binge, or underage, drinking or anti-social behaviour but how do we get that over to those who speak for us, and more importantly to politicians who don't even drink in pubs.

It also seems that we are not even given the benefit of our elected MP's if apparently they are PPS's whatever that may be.

My Mrs Snelgrove will not support the EDM on bed tax because she's a PPS. But wasn't she elected to represent me, even though I may not have voted for her.

Derek Haworth​ via email, 01/08/2006Nice to know our police force live on fantacy island.

Young people get drunk on cheap suprmarket beer, then come out to pubs and cause problems. Stop the sale of alcohol in supermarkets, pubs have not all of a sudden become rowdy after hundreds of years look to the source, not the end product.

Landlords do a good job under increasing pressure.

E. B. Cant​ via email, 01/08/2006Please note that I have a great respect for the police, but this idea must fall short of the mark, as mentioned by Ken Nasson, some of these intelligent people who came up with this idea, I must presume, are just going to work and picking up their wages for doing nothing. Before I became self employed, I used to work for these idiots of managers, lets try to explain to these people, if someone is sitting down, and people are carrying pints to their seats and sometimes beer will get spilt over the person sitting down, then no trouble will be caused, because one person is sitting down. (are they real) that's how I am reading into this, if the people who came up with this idea, really believes this, then we have a major problem with people in authority.

If they don`t believe this, then please shut the xxxx up, we should have a council of landlord to come up with a solution not these people who can effect our livelyhoods.

What you should do is stop big outlets selling cheap booze, drinkers go there, get half plastered, then go looking for the pubs that have entertainment.

That's where most of the problems lie, so lets see you do something about that, which will be more constructive to our industry.