24-hour booze crimes rocket

David Ottewell

September 14, 2007

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VIOLENT crimes linked to booze have rocketed by almost 50 per cent in Manchester since 24-hour drinking laws were brought in.

Some 1,313 incidents were recorded by police between December last year and this July - compared to just 902 in the same period two years earlier before the licensing laws were reformed.

From December 2005 to July last year - just after the start of 24-hour drinking - there were 1,144. The crimes - recorded whenever a police officer believes alcohol to be a factor in a crime - include huge numbers of relatively minor assaults but also include robbery and rape.

Figures obtained by the M.E.N. show there were 1,292 alcohol-related crimes in the 12 months up to December 2005.

That was the month after changes were brought in under the Licensing Act allowing premises to apply to open around the clock.

In the following 12 months there were 1,741 alcohol-related violent crimes, but between December last year and July this year there have been a further 1,313. The council had a `target' of 1,034 for an entire year.

Visits to the city's main central hospital have also increased since the Licensing Act liberalised drinking hours.

The Manchester Royal Infirmary recorded 132,584 visits between April 2005 to March last year - but 142,992 in the next 12 months.

Jimmy Stuart, clinical director and consultant in accident and emergency at the MRI, said up to 80 per cent of visits on a Friday or Saturday night were directly related to alcohol.

"What we are seeing now is a much later `tail' of alcohol- related violence at times when staffing levels are at their lowest," he said. "Previously by 2am or 3am cases would have stopped but now they are coming in through the night."

Town hall chiefs admitted a `problem with alcohol-fuelled crime' but said they had taken a number of measures to tackle it.

But shadow home secretary David Davis said the people of Manchester were paying for the government's `cavalier approach to public safety'.

Gordon Brown has already announced plans to review the effects of extending licensing hours. A Home Office spokeswoman said: "It is not the case that the reforms have led to 24-hour drinking."

Jim Battle, deputy leader of the city council, said: "Residents in a number of areas raise issues with us about young people and alcohol, and the city council is working with police, health and most importantly communities to take action."

What do you think of 24-hour drinking? Have your say.

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Lisa Moore...Wilmslow...Cheshire (15/09/2007 at 08:58)

What do the Police expect? Manchester has and always has been a crime ridden city with yobs and thugs coming from the council estates. They will never change it.

mauger 9, HANNOVER GERMANY (15/09/2007 at 09:16)

Bring back the normal dringing times.raise the age limit to 21.The pubs here in Germany are not open 24 Hours a day.As Many believe.
Where do these people get their money from.to be able to get Drunk at those prices?
Many pubs ocer here are closed on Mondays.

Pippa, Manchester (15/09/2007 at 09:31)

And this is surprising ? Come on, it was only to be expected. Any fool could see that.

PW, Manchester (15/09/2007 at 09:49)

I'm not against 24 hour drinking, but when do the Government expect me to get some sleep?

ace, manchester (15/09/2007 at 10:11)

Yet another MCC idea gone wrong........

ace, manchester (15/09/2007 at 11:28)

Stop the 24 hour drinking and maybe we could have more police on the beat?

David,North M/C (15/09/2007 at 11:40)

Its not the alcohol its the mentality of the British people that drink it.To give just one example, lets take the Czechs and the Germans the biggest consumers in the world, do they behave like Brits in their towns and cities of a weekend? Does anybody else behave like that in civilised western Europe where there has always been 24 hour drinking.

deephouse, whitefield (15/09/2007 at 11:40)

bloody hell it's like the daily mail on here lately

mauger 9, HANNOVER GERMANY (15/09/2007 at 11:54)

Lisa,it's you Wallahs who live in Cheshire on your wits
who are the boozers.Desperate
Housewifes and Husbands.You used to be the Scotch egg and half mild Brigade.

Wor Bobby, Salford Quays (15/09/2007 at 12:30)

The figures are about alcohol related crimes, these will include domestic disturbances, young kids on the street corners causing trouble after a can ot two. Before people blame the 24 hour culture we need to know the exact figures for say, city centre crime which is alcohol related. Oh, and if anyone knows of a 24hour drinking establishment please let me know as I work shifts and would love to be able to go in to a pub at 5 in the morning after work to wind down.

shayna (15/09/2007 at 15:00)

does any other country in the world have a "24 hour drinking" law?

Mark,Radcliffe. (15/09/2007 at 18:04)

I want to know..How many of these "Alcohol-related Crimes" were actually Detected.After all,we are told that overall,Crime is on the decrease.So statistically speaking if its on the decrease,more Police time therefore is freed up to investigate new crime,alcohol related crime...OOPs I was dreaming again.

drew peacock, stockport (15/09/2007 at 18:25)

Lets be honest..we don't really have 24hr drinking do we?..
Some clubs may go on a few hours later than they used to but that's about it.
If we dig deeper into the figures will will probably find out that the number of licenced premises has increased hugely since last year therefore attracting lots more people into the City.
The amount of stag and hen do's involving people from outside of Manc' must have done, you can't help but bump into a good few on a night out now.

gladys rowbotham, Manchester (15/09/2007 at 19:37)

It was of course James Purnell MP for Stalybridge and Hyde who as Licensing Minister at the time of the law change famously stated that " the laws would combat binge-drinking and violent crime, adding there were several safeguards to ensure this". (BBC website).

So you know who to blame (hic!).

Sue, Rochdale (15/09/2007 at 20:18)

I don't know why anyone is surprised at this. I was married to a heavy drinker when the first change to opening times was made (in the 1980s? when they went to all day opening) and he and his pals were worse after the hours changed.

hodie, wiltshire (15/09/2007 at 21:35)

Another Moral panic.This is nothing new. The Brits have been behaving badly when drunk for several hundred years and the powers that be have been getting their drawers in a twist about it for about the same time - long before there were Council Estates! Look at Hogarth's Gin Lane or read some Shakespeare or Thomas Hardy.

lebist, Blackley (16/09/2007 at 11:00)

only one response to your wind up lisa from wilmslow?I think your being sussed out.

Happyblue, Failsworth (16/09/2007 at 11:33)

Usally i'd say something objective,but my head hurts at the moment(hangover)so,you'll have to settle for this,where M.E.N did you obtain you figures !

Remember people,the media have thier agenda.

S P In exile, Tameside (17/09/2007 at 03:00)

Who does Lisa Moore think she is, talk about a moralist. I suppose people from Wilmslow have never been in trouble with the law.

It don’t matter whether you’re from a council estate or millionaires row crime is committed in both communities.

I suppose you have never broke the law like just going over the speed limit or accidently dropping litter and can’t be bothered to pick it up.

Don’t come on here trying to be whiter than white you madam are an hypocrite in another post your feeling sorry for some guy getting 15 months for nicking wire. The law is the law it is just the way different people interpret it.

Mr Angry, Bury (17/09/2007 at 07:11)

Well suprise, suprise. The drinking age should be raised to 21, a huge tax should be imposed on alcohol to price large amounts of it out of reach, and the licensing laws should be made more stringent than they were before they were relaxed in the first place. I am teetotal, alcohol is unnecessary,learn to do without it

ace, manchester (17/09/2007 at 10:54)

Dont forget this is the councill that said 24hour drinking wont do any harm? So remember this when they keep telling us that building a casino will not cause any gambling problems? The council will tell us anything to get its own way. but we have to live with the problems when things dont work out.I remember they said that they had done their homework about drinking 24/7? well they are telling us something similar about the casino.

Mr Angry, Bury (17/09/2007 at 12:19)

Ace, just in the same way that they told us it would be a good idea to knock down ann the houses and build tower blocks in places like Hattersley and move every one out there whether they liked it or not. The council does not represent the voters, it represents itself and it's friends in big business, just like the government

A from Manchester, manchester (17/09/2007 at 13:29)

I think Lisa Moore owes an apology to those living on council estates. I think her comment is completely uncalled for. The majority of the people I work with in a professional office do not live on council estates and are drunken louts, when you go into the city and see trouble it's just as often between drunken smartly dressed people. I agree that the 24/7 drinking should never have been brought in and it annoys me that money that can be spent elsewhere on more needed aspects like protecting kids from child abuse (which again is usually alcohol induced) is spent on sorting out drunken idiots who can't control themselves.

ace, manchester (17/09/2007 at 13:55)

Mr Angry, Bury
Youve got it in one.we need to get rid of this lot and tell the councillors to do what the voters want or we vote you out.that goes for the government.And we need people to stop behaving like voting sheep .voting for a party because your mum and dad voted for them? Vote for a party that YOU want in...

ace, manchester (17/09/2007 at 14:18)

A from Manchester, manchester
I wouldnt worry to much on what she says she just winds people up for a giggle. infact the worse payers i ever had had when i owned my company was people from around the cheshire area .most had big debts ,so were unable to pay their bills most of the times infact most of my bounced cheques were from people in big houses in cheshire.some for as little as 20quid.So to think that people who live in cheshire are any better is a bit stupid to say the least.

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