TOUGHER measures are needed to crack down on alcohol-related crime, York's MP said today.

Hugh Bayley has asked the Home Office to consider banning people from pubs and clubs if they are found guilty of offences outside the premises.

He said: "At the moment if somebody is convicted of a drink-related offence inside a licensed premises they can be banned.

"I would like to see that extended to a wider range of offences outside licensed premises. If someone makes a nuisance of himself, or herself, outside because they are drunk, then banning them from licensed premises to me seems a suitable response."

In a House of Commons debate, he asked Home Office Minister Paul Goggins to consider widening the offences leading to people being banned.

Mr Goggins said he would consider the proposal. He also praised police and other agencies in York for reducing alcohol-related violence since the introduction of later opening hours from pubs.

It was speculated that new licensing laws would bring mayhem to the streets, but the Evening Press revealed in January how violent crime in York dropped by 20 per cent after they were introduced.

John Lacy, City of York Council's licensing manager, said: "It is rewarding for all of us involved in crime reduction in this city that we are being recognised on the national stage. Tourism is vital to the economy of this city, and support like this further enhances our reputation as a safe city and an excellent place to visit and spend your leisure time.

"We fully support the call for those arrested for drink-related offences and violence to be banned from licensed premises. This is a very effective measure of reducing and deterring violence - because, while drunken youths don't mind getting fined, what they don't like is being banned from pubs, because they cannot socialise with their mates."

Trevor King, president of the Licensed Victuallers' Association and landlord of the Fulford Arms, said: "By banning people who are caught misbehaving in the streets it would put out the message that if you're drunk you have to behave yourself.

"But this would have to be policed very carefully. The problem is that there are people who cause trouble who haven't even been in the pubs. They can get drunk at home.

"It would have to be related to zones rather than pubs, because if someone is behaving badly outside a pub it doesn't necessarily mean they have been drinking in there. But if it was done in zones, so that people were banned from drinking in a particular area of the city, rather than an individual pub or club, I would fully support that idea."

Breathalyser idea is kicked out

COMMUNITY safety leaders have dropped proposals that could have seen bar staff breathalysing customers before serving them.

The proposal was intended to help enforce laws forbidding bar staff from serving already drunken customers.

It was put forward as part of the Best Bar None scheme, designed to reduce binge and under-age drinking, alcohol-related violence and theft, identify responsible licensees and share good practice.

But Coun Richard Watson said: "This recommendation would certainly be very expensive, and I don't think it would be a terribly good measure of a person's perceived drunkenness.

The proposal was part of a major report on drug and alcohol-related crime and antisocial behaviour considered by City of York Council's economic development and community safety scrutiny board. It recommended "the use of breathalyser machines on licensed premises to assist staff in gaining evidence of excessive drinking as a basis for refusing to serve".

But the council's licensing manager, John Lacy, said: "Officers cannot fully support this proposal. This approach has been piloted elsewhere, and was found to aggravate antisocial behaviour."

Updated: 09:44 Wednesday, March 22, 2006