Driven to the brink by pointless drink limit

Well I did warn everyone that the lowering of the drink drive limit would clobber our pubs and restaurants, especially in rural areas.

However, not for one minute did I think it would prove to be quite such a hammer blow.

The licence trade has for years been on the receiving end of a long, cruel and insidious assault and the OTT scare tactics used by the authorities has driven otherwise law abiding customers and visitors away.

On the one hand we are told the Government is fully supportive of the trade, that they are behind any measure that encourages more people, not less to go out and drink rather than them sitting in doors getting blootered.

On the other they slyly introduce barely discussed and thought out legislation that cripples the trade and discourages people from going out.

It has happened at such an alarming rate, many decent and law abiding licensees have just upped sticks and chucked it because their brains have been fried with the amount of new legislative change and conditions they have to adhere to.

Even our top licencing lawyers are struggling with the deluge of legal jargon and amendments.

The zero tolerance approach has brought the industry to its knees. Crime in the cities has gone down but so has the number of people going out. And as for being the sick man of Europe, there were a lot of other factors at play to earn that dubious distinction, from poverty to a poor diet.

The list of laws, conditions, costs and pressures that come from an ever growing duty of care list that a licensee has to endure is mind boggling in its complexity. And it never seems to cease.

The lowering of the drink drive limit has proved to be the final straw for many and they are shutting up shop.

What were they thinking off to bring in this new limit? Were the numbers drink driving so out of control that the law needed to be changed?

I would like to know how many folk have since been caught between the new and old limit? Not many I bet certainly not enough to warrant such a punitive approach.

All it seems to have done is scare normal law-abiding people away from having a drink.

Why wasn’t this change and the possible implications properly discussed with the trade?

Look at the catastrophic effect this measure has had on the lives of those in the industry.

It also begs the question if there is any need now for such an expensive state funded quango like Alcohol Focus given that sales of alcohol in many pubs, restaurants and golf clubs have fallen off the barrel.

I for one am worried that Scotland, a supposedly very tolerant country is now hell-bent on becoming a zero tolerance, small minded nation. I hope not!

Are alcohol adverts and sponsorship now to be banned? Are restrictive alcohol consumption credit cards to be introduced that measure the amount we drink?

Are breathalysers for the public now going to be statutory requirements in every licensed establishment?

Are licences for anyone selling booze only going to be granted if they can prove how they will “REDUCE” customer consumption?

I’d like to know how much more nit-picking is yet to come and so would the few publicans and licensees left to pick up the pieces. That’s if there are any left to pick up.

As a distinguished member of the trade said to me recently, if 10-15 years ago someone had said there would be a ban on smoking they would have been laughed at.

Well no one is laughing now especially as it seems alcohol will be next.