'Carnage' nights spark criticism

A tour of Scottish cities by a firm which organises mass student bar crawls with fancy dress themes - including "Dirty Porn Star" - has sparked a wave of criticism.

The row over Varsity Leisure Group's Carnage UK trip to Scotland has erupted as the government considers new licensing constraints, which could see pubs and clubs paying to fund disorder zones.

Voted the UK's best student event by readers of Nuts magazine, Carnage UK tours across 45 UK cities.

But Paul Waterson, chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said: "No pub should have anything to do with this kind of thing." Next month the Carnage event visits venues in Glasgow, Stirling and Edinburgh. Participants, sometimes paying £1 per drink, buy T-shirts and are then given a list of bars to tick off and tasks to perform.

Adam Ramsay, president of Edinburgh University Students Association, said the sessions were "an open invitation to binge-drinking". "We have banned them from promoting their nights from everywhere in the campus, because we think these events are irresponsible and potentially put vulnerable young people at risk," he said.

However, Steve Hughes, Carnage UK's media officer, said criticism was driven by the fear of loss of business to student unions. He also pointed to examples of student promotions around Scotland which he says encourage binge-drinking. "We're not even a cheap option," he said. "Unlike student unions we don't offer cheap discounted drink."

The company says it lays on free soft drinks and discounted food at venues and operates a "Challenge 21" policy. Hughes added that "hundreds" of Carnage events staged around the UK were overwhelmingly trouble-free. "In some English cities we've attracted Muslim students who don't drink, but think it's a great night," he said.