Licensees not responsible for drinking habits of drivers, says poll

Just under 90 per cent of licensees say they should not be responsible for the drinking habits of drivers, according to a poll on thePublican.com.

Last week the RAC published research which claimed that that 80 per cent of motorists were unaware of the legal drinking limit. It laid the blame at the feet of the drinks trade, which it claimed was causing confusion by flooding the market with different types of drinks. It said that pubs serving premium lagers, upsized measures drinks are making it harder for drivers to stay within legal guidelines.

Just over a quarter of those polled believe that the trade does enough already with campaigns such as "I'll be Des", the brainchild of the Portman Group which encourages people to take a designated driver with them while drinking; 61 per cent said that licensees should not be held responsible.

Only 13 per cent of publicans believe that they need to police their customers.

Licensee Mark Barlow commented: "As far as I'm aware no drunk driver has ever been acquitted on the grounds that the publican was at fault for not making it clear how many drinks a person can consume."

Another licensee, Chris Dyson, said: "How are we to know how much alcohol our customers may have consumed at home before coming out for a drink in their local pub. Lets see the supermarkets take the lead in dissuading their customers not to consume alcohol and drive."

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