SELLING ALCOHOL TO DRUNKS AND DUTCH ELM DISEASE

Information here and from myriad other more substantial sources dispel any doubts that alcohol is a root cause of at least half of all criminal offences many of them violent. It would seem therefore that any simple measures to curb excessive drinking in public would be cost effective. Licensees can refuse to serve drunks or those who appear so. In many towns licensed premises are often situated within a relatively small area enabling them to be policed efficiently………or so one would have thought. In 2013 precisely   five people were proceeded against at magistrates` courts for selling alcohol  (pp5) to drunks and a further 63 were handed Penalty Notices for Disorder.  The relevant section of the CPS Guide is reproduced below.

Sale of Alcohol to a Person who is Drunk

Section 141 makes it an offence to sell or attempt to sell alcohol to a person who is drunk, or to allow alcohol to be sold to such a person on relevant premises.
Subsection 2 applies to:
• any person who works at the premises in a capacity, whether paid or unpaid, which gives him the authority to sell the alcohol concerned;
• the holder of a premises licence in respect of the premises;
• the designated premises supervisor (if any) under such a licence;
• any member or officer of the club which holds a certificate who at the time the sale (or attempted sale) takes place is present on the premises in a capacity which enables him to prevent it; and
• the premises user in relation to the temporary event notice in question.
This section applies in relation to the supply of alcohol by or on behalf of a club to or to the order of a member of the club as it applies in relation to the sale of alcohol. A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

It is obvious to a man from Mars that there is no will to enforce this law. The same criticism applies to those who sell alcohol to children. Trading Standards offices have been beset by redundancies and reduced funding as have a multitude of public offices.

Whilst the shrill voices continue to insist that the forest of health and welfare services remains almost untouched by current economic necessities the trees in our public services where relatively small efforts could yield vast rewards are allowed to whither where they stand just like Dutch Elm disease a few years ago where common sense was non existant and  neglect to act promptly increased what was then a controllable problem and allowed  it to become uncontrollable.