We can all help with alcohol education

Alcohol faces many challenges in the UK, as it becomes the new smoking.

Sometimes it is easy to be slightly complacent as we try and protect jobs, brands and companies from within the sector.

However, a few months ago I experienced an incident that highlighted the potential perils of alcohol if seriously misused.

A school friend (of slight frame) of a close relative, aged 13, chose to take a bottle of 70% proof vodka from his parents' drinks cabinet.

Later that evening with friends in a park he drank a third of the bottle neat! At this stage he was giggly and it all seemed like a bit of fun.

After the bottle had been passed round and very small amounts being consumed by the others he preceded to down most of the remainder. (His estimated consumption was around three quarters of the bottle).

He was then quickly very, very sick and then fell unconscious.

A sensible friend called for an ambulance and the police were summoned and told the friends they had better prepare for the possibility their pal might die.

Statements were taken but it was not until the hospital advised that the boy had miraculously survived that the boys were allowed home.

By now it was 1.30am. The boy had a Glasgow Coma Scale score of only four when he arrived at casualty.

A score of three is dead, while 15 is alive and well. The three measures are eye, voice and motor response. Only his violent vomiting had saved him.

It has proved a very sobering experience for the friends and could have ended in real tragedy.

Does the alcohol education that children get really hit the spot?

It was clear the 13 and 14-year-olds had no idea of the relative strengths and dangers of different alcoholic drinks. They did not know how much stronger vodka was than say cider.

I guess I am just relating a story here that really shocked me and my family, and suggesting that all of us in the alcohol industry do all we can to help educate our nation to drink more responsibly and to try and stop potential tragedies like this one happening again.

Stephen Crawley is managing director of Caledonian Brewery​