Crackdown on serving drunks in Scotland

Claims that a Scottish council is to recruit an army of inspectors to ensure pubs are not serving alcohol to drunks have been denied.

But Glasgow City Council has confirmed that it is raising the pressure on sales to drunks.

The council's comments come after the revelation of a new Home Office push to stamp out the practice in England and Wales (The Publican, October 8).

In a statement by the Scottish city's licensing board, convenor James McNally described the prosecution rate for licensees serving drunks as "woefully low".

"It is quite obvious to anyone out in any town or city that there are people in licensed premises who are drunk and yet continuing to be served more and more alcohol," he said, before calling for a "much greater element of self-regulation and responsible management practices" to deal with the problem.

But a spokesman for the council said reports suggesting licensing standards officers (LSOs) would enforce the crackdown were wide of the mark.

"As the 'serving drink to drunks' issue relates to offences in the legislation, it is an issue for the Police to enforce and not LSOs," he said.

The 1976 Licensing (Scotland) forbids licensees from selling alcohol to people who are drunk - but Paul Waterson the chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, has highlighted the problems licensees can encounter.

"The big question is what constitutes 'drunk'? It's very difficult to decide," he said. "In some places people might think you're drunk if you're singing, in others you've got to fall on the floor. It's all about experience."

Patrick Browne, chief executive of the Scottish Beer and Pub Association said most licensees were behaving responsibly: "We're fairly confident that licensees are enforcing the law as it stands."