Pub industry opposes reduction in drink-driving limit

Government plans to reduce the drink-driving limit from 80mg in 100ml of blood to 50mg has met with opposition from pub industry groups.

Nick Bish, the chief executive of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, said that the UK drink-driving regulations were already robust enough, and that the country had one of the lowest rates of drink-driving related deaths in Europe.

"Of course we want to make it better but major changes in the blood alcohol limits are not necessarily the way to do this; other countries have lower limits and yet a worse record. Social and peer pressure have convinced people that it is absolutely not acceptable to drink and drive. We should play to our strengths and reinforce the policing, the peer pressure and the public messaging,” Bish said.

He added that he feared that a reduction in the limit could lead to more drinking at home as opposed to pubs: “Pubs are the best and safest places to drink. The report does recognise that pubs have successfully long promoted the “Don’t Drink & Drive’ message and implemented dozens of initiatives from Designated Driver to Get-you-home schemes. What worries me is that well-meaning regulations sometimes have unintended consequences and drive people away from drinking in a supervised environment," he said.

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By Neil Gerrard


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