06/02/2015

Over 40 Birmingham Pubs To Breathalyse Customers

Door staff may breathalyse pub customers on entry to some of Birmingham's biggest nightspots.

Over 40 venues have signed up to the scheme, launched by West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council, that will see door staff armed with an 'Alco-Blow' detector that picks out people who may already be drunk.

The device indicates anyone more than twice the legal drink drive limit and can be used by security teams to assess who could pose a disorder threat.

The Alco-Blow tubes have been rolled out primarily in Broad Street but also to some venues in Digbeth, Hurst Street and other major city centre pubs.

Central Birmingham Police Sergeant Dave Francis said: "In recent years we've seen an explosion in pre-loading culture... people coming into the city already drunk and even getting out of taxis holding bottles of wine and vodka and downing them before going into clubs.

"Obviously when people are heavily drunk they are a danger to themselves and more likely to get caught up in rows or fights.

"The breathalysed-on-entry scheme is designed to reduce alcohol-related crime and disorder in our nightlife centres. A similar project was trialled in Norfolk last year and was found to reduce the number of disorders at venues by around a third."

(CD/JP)

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