New drink-drive legislation is crippling Fife’s pubs, it has been claimed.
Bob Young, the region’s licensing board chairman, has told The Courier that he intends to meet Scottish Government representatives to discuss ways to assist the beleaguered licensed trade.
Mr Young has said that the introduction of a new drink-drive limit in December has had a “huge effect” on the industry and is hoping to raise his concerns with the Scottish Government later this summer.
The move has been welcomed by the region’s representative for the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, Jeff Ellis, who said that the new legislation had impacted on establishments throughout Fife.
“There has been a massive impact on people’s drinking habits,” he said.
“The most extreme case that I have heard was a downturn of 90% and golf clubs have been hit hard in particular.
“One brewery does have 26 or 27 golf club customers and they say that the downturn on average is 60%,” added Mr Young.
The new drink-drive limit was introduced before last Christmas, cutting the legal amount of alcohol from 80mg to 50mg in every 100ml of blood.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said that the new level would save lives, citing support from experts and road safety campaigners, and send out the message that drinking and driving would not be tolerated on the nation’s roads.
The limit elsewhere in the UK remains at 80mg the joint highest level in Europe, while Scotland’s 50mg limit is in line with many other European nations.
However, since its introduction, Mr Ellis says that the toughening up has concerned patrons of licensed premises over how much they can drink, even if they do not intend to drive that day.
“People are much more aware of when they are drinking and they are very much aware of the morning after issue,” he added.
“It has done more to change drinking habits than the last 15 years of licensing legislation, but whether it has been justified is hard to say.”
Mr Young told The Courier that assisting the licensed trade was critical as it continues to reel from the effects of the 2006 smoking ban and pricing from supermarkets.
Planning to meet Holyrood officials in the coming months, he said that discussing the impact of the new drink-drive rules would be top of his agenda.
“It is having a huge effect,” he said.
“People are not drinking at all.”