Walsh: fight drink-drive reform

Government plans to halve current limits

Tadcaster pub company boss Jim Walsh has called for the trade to fight Government plans to almost halve the drink-drive limit.

Government is expected to recommend lowering the alcohol limit for motorists to less than a pint of beer or a glass of wine in a consultation due out later this year.

Walsh said this would be "catastrophic" for rural pubs. "It will vastly accelerate the closure of pubs outside metropolitan areas.

"This Government wants to kick us in the teeth. It doesn't seem to understand what is happening to pubs outside of the city where they can't be reached by tube or taxi. If the trade bodies can't fight this then let's forget about them."

The plan, leaked to The Times, is to cut the alcohol limit from 80mg to 50mg per 100 millilitres of blood.

Walsh said the 80mg limit may be among the highest in Europe but accidents on the road in the UK are far less common than elsewhere on the Continent.

A British Beer & Pub Association spokesman said: "You will never get on top of the problem of drink driving without much more rigorous enforcement of existing laws. That's the solution, not altering the drink-drive limit."

However, reports in The Times this week suggest the Government plans to introduce a "two strikes and you're out" rule for drink drivers — and scrap automatic licence revocations for people caught drink driving.