Bromsgrove Woman Issued With First Nationwide Drinking Ban

A woman from Bromsgrove has become the first person in the country to be issued with a Drinking Banning Order (DBO) banning her from licensed premises and off-licences across England and Wales.

Twenty-year-old Laura Hall, formerly from the Stoke Heath area of Bromsgrove, was issued with the DBO by Kidderminster magistrates this morning (Thursday 15 April).

The DBO will last for a period of two years (until 15 April 2012) and prohibits her from consuming alcohol or purchasing alcohol in pubs, nightclubs, membership clubs or hotels, and from purchasing alcohol in shops and off licences. It also bans her from having alcohol in any unsealed container or consuming alcohol in any public place. These conditions apply throughout England and Wales.

The order also requires her to undertake an approved course to tackle her alcohol-misuse issues.

The DBO could be lifted after one year providing she has completed this course and has not breached any conditions of the order.

Police applied for the DBO after Laura was involved in numerous alcohol-related public order offences in and around the Bromsgrove area. She had already been excluded from local licensed premises through the local PubWatch and BAND (Bromsgrove Against Night-time Disorder) schemes.

"We chose to use this new legislation as a way of helping address Laura's offending behaviour, and we very much hope that rather than seeing it as a punishment, she will use it as an opportunity to get her life back on track."
Sergeant David Roberts

DBOs were introduced by the Home Office in September 2009 as a measure to prevent known individuals who are causing alcohol-related disorder from entering specified licensed premises. The aim of a DBO is to deter the type of behaviour that disrupts communities and ruins lives while forcing the offender to face up their actions and start to make positive changes.

DBOs would not be approved for those with mental health issues or for those who are drug or alcohol dependant, and careful consideration is given to this when applying for such orders.

A DBO is designed to rehabilitate rather than punish, and whereas a breach of Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) conditions might result in imprisonment, anyone breaching DBO conditions could incur a fine.

There is also provision for a DBO to be lifted early once the required alcohol rehabilitation course has been completed and as long as there have been no further offences committed.

Sergeant David Roberts from Bromsgrove police said: "While there have been some Drinking Banning Orders issued already since their introduction last year, this is the first to be issued on a nationwide basis and it effectively bans Laura Hall from drinking or buying alcohol in any licensed premises across the whole of England and Wales.

"It is also the first DBO to be issued in the West Mercia Police force area.

"We chose to use this new legislation as a way of helping address Laura's offending behaviour, and we very much hope that rather than seeing it as a punishment, she will use it as an opportunity to get her life back on track."

"The conditions of the order will also help to protect the public in Bromsgrove and the surrounding area from the anti-social effects of Laura's behaviour and we hope they will feel reassured to learn this DBO is in place."

PC Neil Sharpe, Licensing Officer for Redditch and Bromsgrove, added: "A Drinking Banning Order is a powerful and far-reaching tool for tackling alcohol-related disorder and we will not hesitate to apply for further DBOs where we feel they could make a difference within our local communities.

"We hope that others with drink-related issues will take note of this.

"We also hope that licensees throughout Bromsgrove, Redditch and into Birmingham will be reassured by the positive action we have taken."

 

Issued:   Thursday 15 April 2010

 

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