Cops supplying plastic glasses

Police forces are supplying pubs with free plastic glasses in a bid to persuade them to ditch glass containers.

A total of 22 venues in Daventry, Northants, have been selected and asked to take on polycarbonate vessels on a voluntary basis.

Funding worth £4,000 has been provided by the Safer Daventry Partnership to purchase 4,000 containers.

Ten city-centre venues in Liverpool have been funded by the National Health Service to meet the cost difference between glass and plastic vessels.

In Slough, police received funding to supply glasses to larger town-centre outlets.

Daventry licensing officer Tam Dunn said pubs were being approached on a voluntary basis.

"We are trying to introduce them through Pubwatch.

"We can't make a blanket request asking pubs to have them as a condition of their licence - there's no evidence in Daventry to suggest they need them," Dunn admitted.

One Wetherspoon (JDW) pub in the town, the Saracen's Head, has declined to use plastic glasses following a company decision.

Meanwhile, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has called on all "high-risk" licensed premises to consider switching to polycarbonate glasses.

The ACPO wants all licensees and pub operators to carry out a risk assessment.

The association supports the introduction of plastic into premises "with a history of violence or with a young high-energy clientèle", where it says drinkers could be most at risk in venues using standard glass containers.

Chief Inspector Adrian Studd, of ACPO's working group on licensing, said: "All premises should conduct a risk assessment to establish whether they would benefit from switching to polycarbonate. I'm pleased to say this is happening in some areas."

Pub operators have expressed deep misgivings about the increasing number of police calls to go plastic.

JDW chief executive officer John Hutson says plastic glasses are threatening to become a bigger trade issue than the smoking ban.

The MA has written an open letter to ACPO licensing lead, Deputy Commissioner Chris Allison, expressing the trade's deep concern about moves to force pubs to go plastic.

l Readers' letters - p19

to determine whether a change to plastic drinking containers would be beneficial

Senior police urge cautious approach to plastic

A senior police officer has called for a high- level debate about use of plastic glasses in pubs. Chief Superintendent Richard Johnson, executive member of the Police Superintendents' Association, urged caution on moves to persuade thousands of pubs to adopt polycarbonate vessels.

Johnson believes only high-profile vertical-drinking pubs in high-risk areas should be encouraged to go plastic. "We need a debate before we go any further," he said.

Thames Valley Police licensing co-ordinator Inspector John Fox clarified the force's position. "We are taking a voluntary line. Our policy is for local forces to encourage bigger town-centre bars to take on plastic," he said.

MA petition to tony blair

The MA is urging licensees and pub-goers to speak out against blanket glass bans by signing a petition to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Pub operators reported that moves by police forces to pressurise operators into replacing glass with polycarbonate vessels are "growing like a bushfire".

In response, the MA has set up a petition on the Downing Street website.

The petition states: "We feel blanket bans on glass are unnecessary and will have a detrimental effect on the licensed trade and the drinking experience of the millions of law-abiding pub goers in well-run establishments up and down the country."

For information on how to sign up, visit www.morningadvertiser.co.uk