Fine, but it does reflect an all-too-common attitude in this country that every problem should be tackled by legislation.
That, of course, means governmental interference and I bet the agitators for new legislation on this are also the ones who keep demanding a reduction in red tape — this despite the fact that history shows you can’t have more of one without more of the other.
The biggest drawback associated with relying on our political masters for answers is that it takes an awfully long time to do anything — indeed, keg theft is a prime example of this. It has been going on forever.
Back in 2009, for instance, as reported in the Morning Advertiser, there was a trial following a £9m keg heist centred on the Midlands and it seems that nothing much has changed since then, until now with this legislation — and we all know what kind of nightmares well intentioned but often poorly thought-out new laws can create.
The answer to the problem — a technical not legislative one — has been under the nose of our industry for years.
You simply produce a stainless-steel keg encased in a rubberised plastic jacket.
That’s what we have been doing at Budvar for years. As a result, our kegs are far too messy to chop up and too distinctive to fill
with anything else (they’re black with the logo in red) and, consequently, our keg thefts are, as near as damn it, zero.
The odd thing is that nobody else seems interested in adopting this solution to keg theft.
You’d have thought the big boys, who must suffer the lion’s share of the £50m loss, would be interested — but no.
I know in the grand scheme of things, where we are psyched-up into thinking in billions or even trillions, £50m doesn’t sound like much, but how many other little housekeeping items like this could we be saving money on through the use of existing technology, instead of
the law?
Remember, look after the millions and the trillions will look after themselves.
- Tony Jennings is CEO of Budweiser Budvar UK