No more drinking in public

[PorkPie]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle6571617.ece

"More than 700 “controlled drinking zones” have been set up across England, giving police sweeping powers to confiscate beer and wine from anyone enjoying a quiet outdoor tipple.

Local authorities are introducing the zones at a rate of 100 a year, The Times has learnt. Some cover whole cities, a radical departure from what the law intended."

Now there's a surprise

[HairyArsedBloke]

No explanation or suspicion that the person could be a public nuisance is required.

[Moscow Mule]

Indeed, Labour in another "Poorly Drafted" & "Over-zealously implemented" law shocker.

That is what you get when you have a party of career politicians passing laws.

[wc2]

Any of them outside pubs?

New Lair's new anthem

Something inside..

The further you take my rights away
The faster I will run

[minestrone]

Actually surprised you have not got it already, been banned here for about 15 years. Mind you, we probably needed it I hear you all shout.

They like to 'crackdown' on posh folk having a picnic in the park sharing a 15 quid bottle of merlot while nutters are wandering the streets with bottles of fortified wine and a knife.

[NotAllThere]

Any of them outside pubs?...

No, off-licenses - that way they can catch more people.

Dan Travis was leaving an off-licence in Brighton at 7pm with two cans of Kronenberg in his hand when two community support officers asked him to stop (Rosemary Bennett writes).

“They asked me if I knew about alcohol restriction zones and I said I didn’t,” said Mr Travis, a tennis coach. “They said, ‘We have to stop people who we think are drinking, not just drunk’. I pointed out that the cans were not even open, and they said that didn’t matter because they thought I was going to drink them in a public place. They asked me to pour it down the drain.”

[The Lone Gunman]

They implemented these areas in my locale quite a while ago. They originaly intended to stop winos being a nuisance.
The police took the opportunity to stop drinkers stepping outside the pub on a quiet summers evening and using the squares in the pedestrian precinct instead of being cooped up in a hot sweaty pub.
They do not seem to have taken the same stance with smokers blocking the pavements with a drink in their hand though.
They have also stopped chasing the winos who now congregate outside the city centre and abuse people using the canal tow path.

[Moscow Mule]

No, off-licenses - that way they can catch more people.

Dan Travis was leaving an off-licence in Brighton at 7pm with two cans of Kronenberg in his hand when two community support officers asked him to stop (Rosemary Bennett writes).

“They asked me if I knew about alcohol restriction zones and I said I didn’t,” said Mr Travis, a tennis coach. “They said, ‘We have to stop people who we think are drinking, not just drunk’. I pointed out that the cans were not even open, and they said that didn’t matter because they thought I was going to drink them in a public place. They asked me to pour it down the drain.”

I would have asked them to accompany me to my house, where they can see me go inside with my beers. I'd even pull the curtains to one side so they could see me enjoy my refreshing beverage.

[BrilloPad]

Good. Can we get eating in public banned too?

[SallyAnne]

Bloody hell - you wont even be able to p1ss in public next!!!!