A glass of wine with your picnic? It's against the law

Posted: Mon 29 Jun 2009 6 54 am

More than 700 â€œcontrolled drinking zonesâ€ have been set up across England, giving police sweeping powers to confiscate beer and wine from anyone enjoying a quiet outdoor tipple.

Local authorities are introducing the zones at a rate of 100 a year, The Times has learnt. Some cover whole cities, a radical departure from what the law intended.

Once a control zone is in place, police can seize alcohol from anyone who is not on licensed premises, even if the bottles or cans are unopened. Although drinking is not banned in the zones, police can ask anyone to stop drinking and it is an offence to refuse, punishable by a maximum Â£500 fine. No explanation or suspicion that the person could be a public nuisance is required. The highest fine will soon rise to Â£2,500.

Campaigners say that if the rapid spread of the zones is not halted it will soon be impossible to find anywhere to have a picnic or outdoor drink on a summerâ€™s evening.

Laws giving local authorities the power to set up the zones, or â€œdesignated public place ordersâ€, were introduced in 2001 at the height of government concern over public drunkenness. The law made clear that the zones should cover only streets or city centre areas with a record of alcohol-related disorder or nuisance.

There are now 712 zones, some covering vast areas where there is no record of disorder. There are city-wide bans in Coventry and Brighton, which cover even the quietest suburban streets. Birmingham tried to introduce a city-wide ban but had to back down in the face of public opposition. Instead it is introducing the drinking zones gradually across the city.

Camden in North London has a borough-wide ban, apart from Hampstead Heath, Regentâ€™s Park and Primrose Hill. The Times has learnt that Lambeth in South London is planning to make the whole borough a controlled zone, with no exemptions, even in Brockwell Park, a local beauty spot that is popular with picnickers.

Research on the zones has been conducted by The Manifesto Club, a campaign group that challenges what it sees as excessive regulation.

It found that police are routinely ignoring Home Office guidelines and confiscating bottles of wine and beer from peaceful picnickers and other adults having a quiet drink outdoors. In some cases, drinks have allegedly been seized by police from adults who have just bought them from an off licence and are on their way home.

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http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article6571617.ece

Posted: Mon 29 Jun 2009 6 11 pm

I think the problem must be that the police do not understand the law, or the extent of their powers. And this is certainly true of the plastic policemen who adorn our streets.

They seem to believe they are empowered to make up the law on the hoof. I hope someone, sometime soon, takes them in hand.

Posted: Tue 30 Jun 2009 12 55 pm

Bestbear wrote:

I think the problem must be that the police do not understand the law, or the extent of their powers.

Either that or they understand very well but consciously abuse it.