THE GUV'NOR

Graham Rowson

Customers will soon have a personal licence for drinking, predicts the licensee of the Plungington Tavern, Preston, Lancashire

The licensee's role as policeman for nearly all government and local authority departments is an ever increasing burden.

Underage drinking, bingeing, smoking, drugs, litter, health and safety, children, prevention of crime and disorder, providing public toilets and pubwatch are but a few of the expected duties that we need to fulfil in order to maintain both our personal and premises licences. But how can this role be relieved?

With the interaction of modern computers and data bases I visualise that within the next 15 years or so a personal licence could be issued by a national licensing authority.

This licence would have to be applied for by every individual wishing to purchase and drink alcohol, It would be endorsed with a raft of information about the holder on its microchip.

The licence would act as proof of age and would contain an individual's weekly allocation of alcohol units as well as details of any alcohol-related crimes.

Public houses would be issued with a scanner and every drink purchased would be recorded and once the weekly allocation of units was reached service would cease.

Underage drinking, binge drinking and alcoholism would all be eradicated, persistent offenders of alcohol-related crime would have their licences revoked, licensees would not have to guess whether a person is drunk or is bingeing as their daily consumption figures would pop up on the screen.

Young drinkers would have a lower limit of units initially and could build up to a maximum over a period of time ensuring good social behaviour.

The idea breaches all the individual's civil liberties, but if the Government, the NHS and other institutions are serious about the implications of alcohol abuse and get their own way, there would be no way of stopping them.