Drunk tanks

It wouldn't cost much to get out of your tree at some of our town centre pubs, Jalima. Wine at less than £8 a bottle, double up your spirits for £1.25, buckets of 12 beers......you get the picture. I can walk past at 9am and people will be sitting drinking there. And even though these may be problem drinkers, it's socially acceptable now. The club's own Facebook sites will have pictures of punters "enjoying breakfast and a pint". It just seems wrong to me, though perhaps I'm a judgemental old biddy.

I don't think that is the only case I have heard of.
Horrendous.

That's really sad D. Jen.

How much does it cost to get that drunk in an evening?

In Norwich and I believe other cities now, there’s an SOS building by the night club area where anyone who’s over indulged or in danger can go for assistance - and a boat cruises the river Friday and Saturday nights I believe, to fish out anyone who blunders in. Nanny state gone mad. I’m glad official drunk tanks will be made available and I think a fine of £50 at least should be charged for anyone who ends up in one.

I have no sympathy for young people who think it’s their right to go clubbing and get drunk out of their minds on a regular basis who then complain they can’t save for a house deposit.

It's a good idea to have the drunk tanks to relieve A&E but the people in them should be made to pay-as in years gone by, when they were in police cells and before magistrates in the morning and fined.
Also the businesses that profit from this trade, pubs, clubs, breweries should also contribute.
I agree 24/7 licensing hours need amending too-no chance of that I would think!
It's heartbreaking that a whole generation seems to think it's ok to get drunk so easily-storing up problems ahead.

Like this, you mean, Morgana?

www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/man-found-dead-recycling-site-14088781

My D.H. says they should be shovelled up into old containers!

Agree with Blue belle. They should be charged. Not just for being in the drunk tank but also for going to hospital. People have to start owning their actions. But we also need a campaign against drinking too much. It seems to have become an aspiration
I have friends who regularly post on F.B. about drinking. Sad. Having lost a friend to alcoholism some years ago, I am very aware of the dangers.

....especially when the wounds are self inflicted!

Elrel from the Bristol Post:

Bristol was the first city to trial the mobile drunk tank idea. It has proved a success, becoming a regular feature in the city centre at this time of year.

The drunk tank cost £500,000 and it can treat 11 people at a time with eight beds, showers and seats along with a sluice and pump room for the worst patients.

It has been a success that is why it could be rolled out across the country.

However, I am still not sure that I agree with it - it feels like a plaster on a wound rather than investigating what caused the wound in the first place and trying to prevent that.

Perhaps everyone could get a 'free go', just the once, in the tank? After that, charges occur. Hefty ones.

The "drunks" still need medical monitoring as they might deteriorate or could choke on their vomit.
But they know that could happen - is no-one considered to be responsible for themselves or their actions these days?

I'm not sure that I agree with the NHS going out into the community to treat drunks.

I agree, there have always been people getting drunk but not on such a scale as now, people wandering around half naked absolutely out of their heads on drink and vomiting over the pavements. Certainly, women didn't seem to drink as much when I was young - we always had to catch the last bus home!

Some towns have Street Wardens who will patrol the streets and help those whom they think may have made themselves vulnerable through inebriation but I don't think it should be in the remit of the NHS to help unless, of course, the drinks companies pay a substantial amount to fund this.

Drink and drugs are more accepted these days, I think. Its quite the 'in thing' to let it be known that you enjoy a bottle of wine, or two, at the weekend. I'm not sure people would have broadcast it a few years back. Getting drunk was incidental to the night out, not the main aim.

Four bars in Newcastle have been closed over Christmas and New Year this year. It's to do with drug dealing as well, but that will be fewer people around, and the landlords will have to be more caareful about what goes on in their pubs.

dj but we do know about our own experiences and those of our friends. I was "out on the town" every Friday and Saturday night and never saw the sort the sort of behaviour which seems to be normal today.

Never had mobile phones and facebook when we were younger, so we have no idea how prevalent it was.

Those rip-roaring renditions of Fairy Tale of New York night have more relevance next year though. All together now - "It was Christmas Eve babe, in the drunk tank....".

I agree it's very sad that we need them, and think there should be a charge, though of course that could lead to people still going to A & E for free instead. I won't deny some bad behaviour of my own back in the day, but nothing like what we see now. No, I have never wee'd on the pavement or flashed my bits at passers by. The difference is that we had to pay so much more for our nights out and wouldn't have had access to cheap booze to drink before we left home, even if we'd wanted to.

I lived in a pub for some years and saw my dad refusing to serve people who'd had enough, though I also remember the bar shutters being crashed down and my dad throwing people out when the fights started (perhaps as a result of him refusing service!).

I should think it's a pretty unpleasant job in the "drunktanks" mopping up and sluicing down, plus being on the receiving end of abuse from their patients.
The "drunks" still need medical monitoring as they might deteriorate or could choke on their vomit.

I wonder how many staff each tank would need? Do the staff actually tend to the people, or just oversee them?

Elrel We are being told they are successful in Bristol. The local newspaper reports that each "bus" costs £500,000 to fit out and can treat 11 people at a time with 8 beds, showers and seats and a sluice and pump room for the worst patients

I was once taken to task by a handful of posters because I felt strongly about the fact one night whilst attending A&E I was so disgusted with the sight of drunks I dared to say they should be dealt with outside the confine of the A&E. It was not only their behaviour towards other patients they were vile to the staff , totally out of order!

It was an eye opener to see the amount of police standing by beds for those who had either committed a crime and were attending A & E or others that had been beaten up and I am by no means a delicate flower , quite the opposite.

I am perfectly content for drink tanks to be further rolled out and if they prove successful drug tanks too. I genuinely believe A & E departments are abused and most certainly the staff are and as a society why do we continue to allow that to happen .

As a society we need to question what the NHS should be used for free of charge and not fight shy of asking if there are circumstances that should involve a charge.

It sounds a good idea in some ways. But it still has to be staffed by qualified paramedics and nurses.
Fitting out the actual "tanks" must be expensive as well. So is it cost-effective?
I can see they might be sited closer to the town centres where they are needed and it keeps drunks away from the hospital where they might cause trouble.
It's not much of an advert for a town to have these "drunk tanks" parked in the centre.