As students head back to Uni, Durham city nightclubs will soon be buzzing again.
Young people love to get rid of steam by heading for a night out to Durham’s bars and clubs. It’s an opportunity to dance, meet up with friends and, let’s face it, possibly hook up with someone once our inhibitions have been suitably dulled. However, a great night out can often end up anything but with many clubbers waking up in a police cell or a hospital bed or possibly not waking up ever again. All the result of consuming alcohol and drugs or the result of someone attacking them who has been using drugs or alcohol.
With police and the NHS often at breaking point, witnessing heartbreaking and life-changing consequences for victims, new policies are being tested in this affluent northern city to see if they can reduce the number and severity of incidents that occur from a night out.
Pre-Drinking Problems
Regardless of the recent cost-of-living crisis, pre-drinking has been popular for decades. While getting ready for a night out, it’s been popular to get into the spirit of a night out by having a few ‘cheeky’ drinks beforehand. And taking a sneaky bottle of vodka out in a handbag to top up cheap drinks has also been part of the getting-the-party started routine for many girls.
However, pre-drinking commonly involves spirits and wine, which can easily lead to intoxication very quickly. By the time revellers arrive at clubs, they can often already be very drunk. Of course, it’s a tough job for your average door supervisor. Being drunk is a highly subjective state, and tolerance to alcohol can mean that people experience the effects of alcohol differently.
If a door supervisor refuses entry to one person in a group, it can often be met with a barrage of abuse RATHER than concern from the rest of the intoxicated group.
From now on, at least in Durham, door personnel have a secret weapon. Durham clubbers—meet the breathalyser.
Door supervisors don’t need to worry, as the equipment is easy to use, and you’ll be trained on how to use it. And, for that matter, clubbers that are drinking reasonable amounts need not worry either.
The Maths And Science Bit
The legal limit for driving in the England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 35mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath or 80mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood. It’s not going to be a problem for you to be over the limit for driving when you enter a club. What the door supervisor will be looking for is an UNSAFE amount of alcohol in the breath sample.
At a blood alcohol level (BAC) of 0.08%, you will be losing some of your judgement and reasoning. Your reaction to danger is reduced, along with your muscle coordination. That’s why it is illegal to drive at this level, but you are quite safe to enter a club and party.
As the BAC increases, your balance will reduce, and you may experience a change in mood, confusion, drowsiness and vomiting. And when the BAC is from 0.3-0.4%, you will probably lose consciousness and have alcohol poisoning that can be life-threatening. Over 0.4%, which is five times the legal driving limit, you are in severe danger and could fall into a coma and die from respiratory arrest.
Door supervisors will not be breathalysing everyone, and there is a clear traffic light system that the breathalyser will indicate. Although we do not have the exact BACs the Durham breathalyser system will use, you can be sure that if your BAC is 0.3% or over, you will not be allowed entry. The door personnel will explain to you (and your friends, if appropriate) your BAC and why you are in danger. It might be that they call medical help for you in some situations or advise that you go home or go to hospital.
Clubbers may not be keen on the new system, but it is not discriminatory in any way and is there to protect you and keep you safe.
Welfare Officers
In addition to these measures, Durham police force is also keen to stamp out the trend of spiking drinks. Women are in particular danger from this as well as homosexual men. That’s because the aim is usually to perpetrate a sexual crime while the victim is rendered unconscious during and without a memory following the attack. The consequences of spiking attacks are often much worse than just rape. They can be violent or result in pregnancy, which is devastating for the rape victim.
Welfare officers will be on the lookout for suspicious activity, and door supervisors will have the opportunity to liaise with welfare officers inside the club if they suspect a person of spiking drinks.
We believe that adopting these new policies in Durham will reduce violent and sexual crime—and the burden on emergency services from people overdoing it, either before or during what ought to be a great night out. We look forward to a nationwide rollout and a safer Britain with these and other innovative policies.
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