Troublemakers named and shamed on beermats

By Gareth Iacobucci

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags North yorkshire

Cleveland pubs are being issued with beermats displaying the faces of troublemakers under a new scheme to target disorder.Stockton Council has...

Cleveland pubs are being issued with beermats displaying the faces of troublemakers under a new scheme to target disorder.

Stockton Council has printed 25,000 mats showing five offenders who have been barred from premises for violent and aggressive behaviour.

The mats, which provide a telephone hotline if the five are spotted, are being distributed to 10 pubs in Yarm, Billingham and Thornaby, and 20 pubs in Stockton-on-Tees as part of the trial scheme.

Four local Pubwatch groups identified the troublemakers, and the council and Cleveland Police agreed to seek Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (Asbos) against the five men.

Sarah Graham, community safety officer at Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, said: "The problem was that licensees were barring these people but a lot of them were getting aggressive and threatening people. It's not fair on staff and it¹s not fair on customers, so we decided to get together to do something to tackle this problem."

Licensees are supporting the scheme which is helping to target violent behaviour and protect customers. Alan Bridges, licensee at the Golden Eagle in Thornaby, said: "I think the customers feel a lot safer since the troublemakers were named and shamed. Now they'll be recognised and removed straight away."

Nigel Bailey, secretary designate of National Pubwatch and inspector with Cheshire Police, said: "National Pubwatch aims to make our town and city centres safe places to enjoy a night out. We shall continue to strive for innovations to support licensees in preventing the small minority of troublemakers causing problems in our pubs, clubs and off-licences."

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