Alcohol ban on London transport

[fairysdad]

That is totally wrong... Banning alcohol on public transport and banning drunks are different things...

Which is exactly the point I was making, but much more succinct! Banning alcohol would not prevent "drunken abuse on trains, prevent drunken incidents, [and] prevent drunken assaults on staff", as the people who would cause these incidents are drunk anyway and don't need to drink on trains (and other PT) to make them that way. Banning alcohol will just stop them continuing to drink on PT. It might sober them up a bit by the end of their journey, which is likely to be a good thing, particularly if they are the type of drunk who gets abusive.

You are right though, Martyn, when you say that a blanket ban would be detrimental - it would cause the number of drink-driving incidents to rise. In my experience, taxis are more likely to refuse a drunk passenger over a bus or a train, although it's quite easy to see why.

 

[Antman]

Alcohol should be banned on ALL trains, trams, buses, taxi's etc. Too many times I (and thousands of others) are subjected to abuse and threats from drunken people on public transport.

A bit OTT.......................supposing somebody going from London to Scotland fancies a beer on the way, surprisingly enough most people do not act like morons after consuming alcohol.

The problems normally stem from the alcohol that they have consumed before boarding so you wouldn't be solving the problem.

 

[Walter Whigham]

By banning alcohol on public transport would: prevent drunken abuse on trains, prevent drunken incidents, prevent drunken assaults on staff and improve the atmosphere. But would just leave you with empty trains on a night time, people chancing drink driving!

Scotland has had since December 2014 a lower drink drive limit - 50mg of alcohol to 100ml of blood (down from 80mg). It has had a dramatic effect with fewer drivers being detected over the new limit. If the rest of the UK followed Scotland's example, a similar outcome might prevail. And in Scotland we have far fewer trains, buses etc than in TfL.