Sarvowinner

"Police arrested 17 people and had to close six London Underground stations after a party involving thousands of revellers to mark the last day of drinking alcohol on the tube turned ugly."

I hope they weren't Fodorites.

BTilke

No, but I saw it. I was riding the Circle Line back to Paddington last night around 10 pm (I had gone in to London to see the Shaolin Monks Sutra martial arts/dance premiere at Sadler's Wells--excellent, by the way).

Just after I boarded the Tube at Angel (Islington area), the driver announced that we wouldn't be stopping at Baker Street. Before we left, I heard another announcement coming from the station that Liverpool Street station also had been closed.

We stopped at Baker Street for a minute or two but the doors didn't open. A Circle train going the opposite direction was being cleared out by the police and I saw several idiot drunks (or drunk idiots) being pulled over. What a pain for legitimate travelers (Baker Street and Liverpool Street are also "regular" railway stations).

It's ridiculous that some people are so addicted to booze they couldn't bear the thought of not being able to drink while riding a subway.

PatrickLondon

Idiots though many may have been, I don't think it was incipient alcoholism that motivated them as much as reacting to petty restrictions.

I don't recall anything like this happening when no-one bothered whether there was a rule against drinking on the tube or not. Strange it should happen the minute someone tries to ban it. Or not.

BTilke

I don't think it was such a petty rule, there's absolutely no need to be swigging booze while riding a subway.

I wish they would extend the ban to the local train service between Paddington and Reading because week-end (and some week-night) trains are full of loud, totally obnoxious drunks. We've also had to step over people that were dead drunk in the aisles (at 7 pm!), that threw up on the trains (a lovely smell in mid-summer), that harassed other passengers, including elderly women, and so on. It's appalling behavior. There's never anyone on board from FGW to do anything about these self-centred, boorish jerks.

The express trains aren't that bad, it's apparently the local services that bring out the dregs.

willit

It seems a flawed rule to me. The habitual drinkers who are the cause of most of the unrest will continue to be drunk and disorderly, while all others will be penalised.

I feel more strongly about this on trains where a drinking ban is also mooted. On longish trips it is pleasant to have the odd can of beer with friends.

Gordon_R

Unfortunately this sort of (predictable) incident just epitomises what we're up against in the UK these days - a feral mob of worthless morons intent on drinking themselves to destruction, without any consideration for decent people. Having seen the TV news footage, and hearing about the injuries sustained by the tube staff and police officers, I'm just disappointed more of these low-lifes were not arrested and charged.

GeoffHamer

I've been living in London for over 30 years and travel on buses and tubes nearly every day, yet cannot recall any problems with people drinking. Of course, there are drunks on the tube late at night, but they've been drinking somewhere else before catching the tube home.
Now alcohol is banned, people who want to drink will either gulp down their can of beer before going in a tube station, or buy a bottle of coke (or any other soft drink) and add vodka or something similar.
I'm sure Patrick is right, and the revellers on Saturday night were trying to protest against an unneccesary

GeoffHamer

... restriction. [sorry, I accidentally posted too soon].

PalenQ

Just more signs of Britain becoming a police state lite - CCTVs everywhere even monitoring dog walkers, cameras nabbing motorists and now do drinks on the Tube where drinking IME has never been a problem.

kleeblatt

Get ready for more brown bags on the tube than ever before.

GeoffHamer

The ban does not apply on national rail services or on boats. You can catch a train from Charing Cross to London Bridge, for example, and drink alcohol legally.

BTilke

"Unfortunately this sort of (predictable) incident just epitomises what we're up against in the UK these days - a feral mob of worthless morons intent on drinking themselves to destruction, without any consideration for decent people."

Yes, even in our supposedly quiet neighbourhood there have been numerous problems. Just recently, one drunk decided to walk up and down the street at night randomly smashing in car windows. A friend of our next door neighbour was almost blinded (and nearly killed) by a drunk on our High Street...he lightly bumped the guy by accident and the outraged drunk smashed a bottle and drove it into his face...a young doctor who happened to be there at the same time managed to provide life-saving first aid. The friend's face is now badly (and permanently) scarred and he has partial vision loss. The drunk was not arrested, much less charged and convicted.

I freely admit that I just don't get why such dangerous binge drinking is so widely tolerated.

PalenQ

and the larger societal Q - why does Britain have such serious binge drinking - far more than any other European country i've been in - why do young people plan to get pissed every weekend and then reek havoc in town centres?

stokebailey

I'm with PatrickL. Police discretion to deal with feral idiots of all stripes, whether holding a can or not, would be more effective than homing in on the quiet (or quiet-ish, or heck, moderately jolly) beer with pals.

Though normally a temperate sort, I'd have been tempted to indulge in a protest drink or two myself out of sheer contrariness.

PatrickLondon

>>You can catch a train from Charing Cross to London Bridge, for example, and drink alcohol legally.<<

You'd have to be gulping it down.

I don't wish to excuse binge-drinkers or people who start fights. We do have a problem, but "there ought to be a law against it" is rarely the solution people think it is.

KayF

"Why does Britain have such serious binge drinking?"

Is it because of lack of education? Are the people doing it, the ones who don't know any better, who weren't taught by their parents to respect others?

Kay

BTilke

In the aftermath of Saturday night's "protest", it emerges that the 26 yo leader of the Circle Line bingefest (who has a cushy bank job) set up the event because a good friend of his lost a highly paid job in Ken Livingstone's administration after Boris won the election.

So much for purity of motives.

Other BoozeTubers are exulting over the chaos they caused and are planning a "post carnage" celebration on June 14. One told a London newspaper "I think the ban is probably a good idea--but let's party!"

There are many worthwhile reasons to stage public protests. The right to swill booze while riding a subway just shouldn't be one of them.

In a related story, hospitals are reporting huge increases in alcohol-related illnesses--up 100% in three years in some areas (nationally, about 200,000 hospital admissions each year are drinks-related, including about 8,500 pediatric admissions. )

bozama

Lovely ariticle in our paper today. A 16 yr old girl is doing public service telling school kids about the dangers of binge drinking. She had been binging since she was 12, drinking enough to pass out or throw up ,, etc. And now, she has liver disease only normally seen in middle aged alcoholics.

She is British, and claims she only drank that much since "all" her friends did too, that is " what we did on weekends" .


We have never allowed drinking on public transportation here ( Canada)( at least not in my lifetime) and we do not allow public drinking anywhere outside, so frankly what a lot of whiners those are who complain they can't drink on the train, bloody riduculus drunks really.
Go to a pub, stay at home, but you do not need to drink on a train, and frankly , if someone is that drunk that they need to vomit or pass out , or act like jackasses they should be arrested and placed in holding cells till sober, none of us normal people should have to put up with babies who don't either know when to stop, or when to stay home.

BTilke

On a happier note, I hear the Bruce Springsteen concert that same night (performing down the road from the dancing monks venue) was excellent.

PalenQ

I seriously think such protests where citizens show their disgust of what they think is a stupid unneccesary rule is the mark of a healthy society - even though it may not have been too healthful in its totality